WILL THE FLOOR EVER BE THIS CLEAN AGAIN?: Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA) launched its World Engine production in Dundee, Mich., in October 2005. The joint venture between DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi and Hyundai will produce 840,000 engines a year at full volume. Chrysler Group President and CEO Tom LaSorda calls the new four-cylinder World Engine "the right product at the right time." DaimlerChrysler in late November concluded the sale of its stake in Mitsubishi. But it's involved in other joint venture talks with GM and BMW on hybrid engines, which would be assembled at a new 400-worker complex in Troy, Mich.

   But abatements and prepared ground aren't everything. Witness DaimlerChrysler's recent second bypassing of a greenfield assembly site originally prepared for them in Pooler, Ga. Instead, DCX announced just after Thanksgiving its decision to expand production of the Dodge Sprinter van at the repurposed North Charleston, S.C., complex of its American LaFrance subsidiary, a business unit of Freightliner LLC. The German company will make a US$35-million investment in the 460,000-sq.-ft. (42,734-sq.-m.) facility in Ladson, where some 250 people will work on the new assembly line when production of the 2007 model begins there in late 2006.
   "A comprehensive logistics study, conducted by DaimlerChrysler's Commercial Vehicles Division, found Ladson to have a clear strategic manufacturing advantage," said the company in its announcement. Among the Ladson site's chief strong points was the fact that the kits from which the vans are assembled already land directly at the Port of Charleston from Europe. Should the North American market warrant it, DaimlerChrysler plans a further factory expansion including body and paint shop.
   The American LaFrance unit has been sold. Meanwhile, the 70 or so employees at Freightliner's Gaffney, S.C., facility who had been performing kit assembly of the Sprinter will be repurposed themselves to other work within the Freightliner division.
   "The Ladson location will provide an immediate increase in annual output to 32,000 units, roughly 10,000 more than is possible today in Gaffney, as a first step to react to market demand," said Dr. Rolf Bartke, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans business unit. The Ladson investment is approximately three times what the company invested when it launched the Gaffney operation in 2001.
   How much did the Palmetto State have to pay for this? Only half a million dollars in infrastructure grants, some job-creation credits and tax credits. Should the investment rise to the company's target level (depending on vehicle sales), the infrastructure grants will rise accordingly to $15 million.