Kokomo Engine Plant Revamp Nearly Complete

Stellantis is nearing completion of a $400 million revamp of a once-idled transmission plant in Kokomo. However, the Kokomo Tribune reports the facility, which will be known as the Kokomo Engine Plant, may not be fully operational by the end of the year as originally planned.

Jodi Tinson, a spokesperson for Stellantis, tells the publication the company is completing “process readiness and engine validation activities.”

The automaker, formerly known as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, announced in March of 2020 plans to retool the facility to produce the GMET4 engine, which is used to power the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Cherokee. The project was expected to create 200 jobs and retain 1,000 more.

Stellantis originally set a goal of having the plant operational by the second quarter of 2021, but those expectations were set prior to the onset of the pandemic in the United States.

Tinson would not confirm the facility would be operational by the end of the year, but told the Tribune “we look forward to being able to confirm the start of production in the near future.”

The publication reports work also continues on a 40,000-square-foot addition that will provide administration space.

In October, Stellantis detailed a $230 million plan to retool three other facilities in Kokomo – the Kokomo Transmission, Kokomo Casting, and Indiana Transmission plants – to produce its fourth-generation eight-speed transmission.

You can read more from the Kokomo Tribune by clicking here.