Chrysler to hire 1,250 more workers in Indiana

Chrysler says it will add up to 1,250 new jobs in Kokomo, Indiana as it begins to produce a new fuel-efficient nine-speed transmission.

That brings the number of new jobs created since the company emerged from bankruptcy to more than 8,000.

The Detroit-based automaker will invest $375 million in its four transmission and casting plants in Kokomo, Indiana.

Chrysler is already building an eight-speed transmission at the Indiana facilities and it will add a nine-speed transmission next year.

Those transmissions are a big part of Chrysler's strategy to make its vehicles more fuel-efficient.

The company says Kokomo will be the largest transmission operation in the world once the new jobs are added.

All of the new jobs will be so-called tier 2 - paying the lower starting wage for newly hired workers.

The entry-level pay rate has made the Detroit Three's labor costs much closer to those at companies like Toyota.