German automaker Daimler’s Trucks division is planning to invest $475m in the Detroit area for the development to diesel engines for medium duty trucks.
The assembly will take place under the roof of the company's Redford plant that is spread across 280,000m2 area and presently employs 2200 people.
The investment will create around 330 new jobs in the area.
Daimler has already invested $100m on the production of the DT12 automated manual transmission engine in Detroit.
The DT12 is used in heavy-duty trucks including Freightliner Cascadia and Western Star 5700 XE trucks, and it is being produced at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Gaggenau / Baden, Germany.
The company will also be producing new DD5 and DD8 engines at the Redford facility.
The new DD5 and DD8 engines belong to the company's Medium Duty Engine Generation (MDEG) and are set to make their market debut next year.
However, the production of the engines in Detroit is scheduled to begin in 2018, until then the engines will be imported from Mannheim, Germany.
The medium-duty four- and six-cylinder engines use standardized components including cylinder head, cylinder block, connecting rods and camshaft.
Daimler board of management member Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard said: "The success of our integrated powertrain for heavy-duty vehicles in the US is phenomenal: Already, over 40 percent of the Freightliner Cascadia models are supplied with the DT12 automated manual transmission.
"So, naturally, it makes sense to now also produce this bestseller locally. We are very proud to celebrate the production launch of the transmission with our highly motivated team here in Detroit.
"This is a major step in executing our global platform strategy. The decisions we announced today will make us even more competitive tomorrow."
