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Chrysler to build more Rams, V6 engines

Chrysler Group will add a third shift next spring at its Warren Truck plant in suburban Detroit and revamp part of its Mack Engine complex in Detroit to make more Pentastar V6 engines. The moves represent about $238 million in further investment in the Detroit area and will add 1,250 jobs, a Chrysler spokeswoman confirmed. A formal announcement is scheduled for Thursday in Detroit.

Audi shifts to eight-speeds for most models

A formal press conference probably won't happen until this summer, but we hear that Audi dealers have received their 2011 order guides, and it looks as though the company will be going from 0 to about 70 percent of U.S. sales being eight-speed automatic transmissions. Beginning this fall, the eight-speed will replace today's six-speed automatic in the A4 2.0-liter turbo sedan and wagon, the A5 2.0-liter turbo coupe and cabriolet, the Q5 2.0-liter turbo, the Q7 3.0-liter turbo, the Q7 diesel, the Q7 with the 3.0-liter supercharged V6 and the all-new A8 and A8L with the 4.2-liter V8.

Chrysler unplugs Envi electric-vehicle division

Envi, the team of engineers charged with developing electric vehicles for Chrysler, has been disbanded. A spokesman told Reuters that development of electric cars will be integrated into the company's traditional structure. “Envi is absorbed into the normal vehicle-development program,” Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa told the wire service.