Ford adding 225 jobs to build hybrid transmissions

[August 03, 2012]  STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. is hiring 225 workers and adding an assembly line at a Detroit-area plant to make a new hybrid-electric transmission.

Ford says it's investing $220 million in the Van Dyke Transmission plant in Sterling Heights to make the new transmission. The new transmission is the first designed and produced entirely be Ford, which used to get its hybrid transmissions from a Japanese supplier.

The transmission will be used in several new vehicles that go on sale this fall. The vehicles include the C-Max hybrid and plug-in hybrid small SUVs and hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ midsize sedans.

Ford says the plant is now the only producer of front-wheel-drive hybrid transmissions in North America. General Motors Co. makes rear-wheel-drive hybrid transmissions in Maryland.

[Associated Press]

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