Chrysler may ship entire transmission line to China
So if you order everything necessary to produce transmissions, do you get free shipping? China's Chery may find out if negotiations to buy one of Chrysler's Indiana facilities lines are successful. Autoweek is reporting that Chrysler may sell Chery one of its Kokomo, Ind. automatic transmission-producing lines and send it all to China.Autoweek's sources say Chery would use the 4-speed in Chrysler's China-built car. Chery, in its pursuit of international exports, would gain transmission-building technology, while Chrysler would use the extra cash to develop a dual-clutch assembly line.
According to Chrysler's Web site, their Kokomo plant produces several transmissions, but only four 4-speed automatics: the 40TE (used in PT Cruisers, Chrysler minivans, and last gen Sebring), the 41TE (PT Turbo, Pacifica, and last gen Sebring), the 40TES (2008 Avenger, 2007 Sebring), and the 41TES (2008 Avenger, 2007 Sebring). Which line from the plant is up for sale isn't known exactly.
[Source: Autoweek]
Location
DaimlerChrysler
Kokomo Transmission Plant
2401 South Reed Road
Kokomo, Indiana 46904
USA
DaimlerChrysler
Kokomo Transmission Plant
2401 South Reed Road
Kokomo, Indiana 46904
USA
Floor Space
3.1 Million Square Feet
Total Side Area
110 Acre Site with Casting Plant
Products
Transmissions - 62TE (FWD) - 42RLE (RWD) - 42RE (RWD) - 40TE (FWD) - 41TE (FWD) - 40TES/41TES (FWD) - 62TE
Employment
3,220 Employees
Training Hours
32,000 Hours (2005)
Plant History
Transmission plant completed and production began in 1956. There have been 12 expansions since then.
(Status July 2006)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
$0.02 9:46AM (1/23/2007)
If Daimler can get rid of these 3200 workers they will only have about 37,000 more to go before they completely drive this company into extinction. They are nearly there.
Oh and thanks Chrysler for the 300 rental that left me stranded on the Jersey Tpk 2 weeks ago because the tranny blew. Great company!
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Arnie 10:20AM (1/23/2007)
Yes Chrysler, why don't you just chop up the company and sell it to China and be done with it. Then you can use the change to start a branding company, because that's what you are becoming.
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Owen 10:18AM (1/23/2007)
If they seriously took the cash from this plant and put it into the creation and production of a DSG then I don't see the problem, sell the chinese your old stuff so you can buy new stuff. What good is an old 4 sp transmission line going to be doing them in the days of 6 spds and DGSs? Personally, the only reason I don't have an SRT-8 Magnum in my driveway today is because of the slushbox.
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aaron 10:39AM (1/23/2007)
So on the heels of a report that CHINA has a stark weakness in the production of automatic transmissions, we see DCX for all intents and purposes proposing to sell antiquated or aging technology to chery for THEIR use, and invest in a new DSG tranny, which they have ALREADY talked about.
yep... let the spindoctors turn this into a matter of farming off jobs to the rest of the world.
p.s. owen, what car DO you own out of curiousity? presumably a 400+hp wagon WITH a manual tranny?
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Tim 10:41AM (1/23/2007)
They may be only shipping 4 speed transmissions but that is what is used in the new sebring and avenger.
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aaron 10:43AM (1/23/2007)
Another thing just occurred to me.. DCX sold much if not all the tooling for the old sebring to Russia as well. OH THE HUMANITY!
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/04/14/volga-sebring-gazelle-stratus-russian-automaker-buys-daimlerch/
seems like a case of 1 man's trash is another man's treasure...
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RickDom 11:48AM (1/23/2007)
They're doing the same thing with the old Minivans once the new ones take over. Just like they did with the old Cherokee. Why not sell off old stuff for real money instead of scrapping it?
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will 11:58AM (1/23/2007)
Do you honestly think the millions of people out there that are willing to buy the cheapest car possible care how many speeds the tranny has? China is looking to enter the US market by undercutting the current economy cars on the market. Besides, being able to purchase years of experience, and designs from Chrysler will no doubt give a huge boost to the Chinese auto industry. Just look at how China has started to manufacture EVERYTHING, and this Change has only started in the last 20 or 30 years.
Korean cars where a joke when they first came into the US, but now they are actually pretty respectable, and are moving upscale. The same thing will happen with Chinese cars in the near future.
China can't loose on this one, because the more they flood the US with cheap cars, the more the other manufacturers will be forced to source more components and vehicles from China.
Furthermore, China is a Communist country that is actively spying on the west, and building weapons to use against us. Why in the hell do we want to support that? Being a Communist country, a large portion of revenue goes back to the Communist government. The more we support China, the worse it will be to deal with them in the future, since all we are doing is helping to create a massive superpower that has no regard for pollution, or human rights.
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Mike 9:41PM (1/23/2007)
Is this the Chrysler transmission that everyone warned me not to buy? Great idea - sell a crappy transmission to China! Let the Chery buyers suffer! :)
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$0.03 12:19PM (1/23/2007)
"thanks Chrysler for the 300 rental that left me stranded on the Jersey Tpk 2 weeks ago because the tranny blew. Great company!
Posted at 9:46AM on Jan 23rd 2007 by $0.02 0 stars"
While you're at it...I'd like to thank Honda for the minivan tranny going out on the rental I had last week and Toyota for the engine sludging up on the neighbors car...
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aaron 12:51PM (1/23/2007)
here is a snip from an article in autonews which was out yesterday..
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BEIJING -- Western suppliers see business opportunities for automatic transmissions, or technology that mimics an automatic transmission, in the booming Chinese market.
"There is a huge capacity for manual transmissions in China, but almost none for automatic transmissions," says Freeman Shen, president of BorgWarner China. "Automatic transmission is a new technology. The Chinese [suppliers] can't do it."
------------
This move makes sense for seller and buyer
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cFoo 12:39PM (1/23/2007)
This is awesome news. It's about damn time the unions get what is coming to them. The more they demand unrealistic benefits and pays the more jobs will be going out of the country.
It's sad for those that will be losing their jobs. But they voted for it. Soon they will vote themselves into a Japanese owned factory or watch their job going out of the country.
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Big Rocket 12:53PM (1/23/2007)
#9 ($0.03): "I'd like to thank Honda for the minivan tranny going out on the rental I had last week and Toyota for the engine sludging up on the neighbors car..."
You seemed to imply with your anecdotes that Honda and Toyota are on par with Chrysler in terms of reliability. That was certainly not the case in 2006. Based on number of cars sold, Honda and Toyota had far fewer percentage of recalls than Chrysler did.
Honda: 1.5 million US sales, 1.4 thousand US recalls (excludes owner's manual typo), 0.093% recall rate
Toyota: 2.5 million US sales, 0.81 million US recalls, 32% recall rate
DaimlerChrysler: 2.4 million US sales, 2.3 million US recalls, 96% recall rate
If you want to show your pride in the domestics, use GM as a shining example, which did almost as well as Toyota in 2006.
Sources:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/19/surprise-recalls-fall-in-2006/1#c3182630
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/19/surprise-recalls-fall-in-2006/1#c3183241
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mkbruin 2:16PM (1/23/2007)
Rocket, do a search on autoblog for the terms 'toyota' and 'recall'
Add up the numbers, then get back to me about that .81mil thing...
oh, $.02, there are no known transmission problems in the LX trio. You are thinking of the old 4 speed, completely revised in 2001 and has not had issues since.
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Carguy 2:31PM (1/23/2007)
Like GM and Ford, Chrysler ought to think about putting the 4 speed auto out to pasture not ship production to China.
I guess now that the 2008 Malibu is a competitive car DCX can be the primary supplier to the car rental lots of America with cars nobody else would pay for.
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jgp 2:53PM (1/23/2007)
I'm just going to weigh in on some of the reliability issues between Toyota, Honda, and Chrysler, and some experiences I've seen with a friend's cars.
An old friend of mine has owned three cars. First, he had a 1989 Toyota Corolla. It was a pile of junk--he ultimately had just about every important part of the car replaced. Every month or two, some important part of his car would die. It was just wonderful coming out of a movie theatre at 2:30am to find out that the starter was dead.
Then, he made a mistake: he decided to sell the junkpile and buy another car. Enter the 1989 Honda Civic. He's since acknowledged that selling the Corolla was a mistake. The Corolla had actually started to run rather well after the entire powertrain and much of the chassis was replaced, part by part (its main remaining problem by the time he sold it was that the paint was peeling off). The Civic frequently had problems starting, as it would stall about half the time he tried to start it. Not to mention the noise--the car always sounded like it was about to rattle itself to pieces.
A botched oil change actually became a fortunate incident for him--thanks to some idiots at Jiffy Lube who screwed up an oil change, the Civic had to be sent to the junkyard due to total engine failure. Now, he had an excuse to get a better car. Another bit of good fortune came when he found a wonderful deal: a 2000 Dodge Stratus in good condition for $5000.
The Stratus has been perfectly reliable. The only time he's mentioned having it serviced was to rotate the tires. It's rather sporty (his past cars had problems getting up to speed...the Stratus accelerates rather nicely, and has plenty of power in reserve for passing), and has no noise problems (especially compared to that rattler of a Civic he had). The interior is great, too, with comfortable seats and legroom out the wazoo ("nice interior" and his past two cars don't go well together at all).
I really wouldn't mind owning a Stratus. I can't say the same about a Corolla or Civic, though.
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Big Rocket 4:02PM (1/23/2007)
#13 (mkbruin): "do a search on autoblog for the terms 'toyota' and 'recall' Add up the numbers, then get back to me about that .81mil thing..."
What you proposed carries the risk of double counting, triple counting, etc. What is there to ensure that the same recall was not mentioned by two or more different Autoblog posts? The 2006 annual summaries I obtained from Autoblog and Tradingmarkets.com had already taken care of this problem. And according to these annual summaries, Toyota had a slightly better recall rate than GM, and both had a far better recall rate than DaimlerChrysler, for 2006.
Feel free to prove me wrong, but you will have to do the work yourself, and provide hard numbers based on cited sources of information.
Sources:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/19/surprise-recalls-fall-in-2006/
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/TOP%20STORY/496383/
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ramsport47 6:08PM (1/23/2007)
"That was certainly not the case in 2006. Based on number of cars sold, Honda and Toyota had far fewer percentage of recalls than Chrysler did."
that might be the case...however..the Chrysler recalls cover way more years of cars, and are dertainly not as serious as transmissions giving up the ghost or engines sludging up when you do all of the recommended service, then Toyota blaming it's customer base for not doing maintainance on the vehicle. That is just them trying hard to keep their recalls down, and it's not going to work anymore...people are smarter (I hope). When you have lots of friends complaining about their Hondotas, that's kind of hard to ignore...Everyone I know with a ChryCo LOVES them
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Frank 10:43PM (1/23/2007)
18. Is this the Chrysler transmission that everyone warned me not to buy?
Posted at 9:41PM on Jan 23rd 2007 by Mike
No, it's not. That was a transmission from the early 90's.
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Big Rocket 12:16PM (1/24/2007)
#17 (ramsport47): "Everyone I know with a ChryCo LOVES them"
That may be the case, but were they talking about 2006 models? According to the statistical data I've seen, Chrysler did great in 2005, with the best recall rate among all the big automakers. Then they took a nose dive in 2006, and became one of the worst.
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/0703/058b.html?partner=autoblog (Good Chrysler record for 2005)
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/19/surprise-recalls-fall-in-2006/1#c3182630 (Bad Chrysler record for 2006)
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