“With the world to choose form, Getrag picked Tipton and picked Indiana,” he said. “More than anything they picked these people and their commitment to build this new world-class, breakthrough set of products.

“Actually,” he said turning to Region 3 Director Mo Davison and Local 685 President Guy Barger, “the greatest credit goes to you people and the people you represent.”

While many wanted the plant to locate in Kokomo near to the present Chrysler plants, Barger said “we would never, ever say no to Tipton. Even by the jobs being located in Tipton County, Howard County and Kokomo will still benefit.”

Davison recalled how the initial discussions involving, Chrysler, Getrag and dual clutch transmissions came to his office 15 months ago.

“We were talking about the future and the innovative dual clutch transmissions,” he said. “Those talks paved the way for today’s announcement.”

Of the 1,170 jobs, 1,050 will be UAW-represented hourly employees with 120 management personnel coming from Chrysler and Getrag.

Hourly employees will fall under the UAW’s national agreement with Chrysler and will receive “the same wages and benefits as the plants in Kokomo,” Davison said.

The first opportunity for jobs will come out of Kokomo and the Indiana Labor Market Group, according to Davison and Chow-Wah.

“We won’t have a major flow going back and forth for quality and efficiency reasons,” the Chrysler Group VP said. “We will have an agreement to make sure this plant is well staffed first and then, if we’re short, we’ll have to look at alternatives at how and where we will get people from.”

Kohler said Getrag will initially bring in 20 to 30 employees, including members of his transmission manufacturing staff, process engineers and a plant engineer.

“(They) will help us in launching and then go back to Germany. In the long term, we’re talking about 100 percent local employees,” Kohler said.

Daniels remembered working for Sen. Richard Lugar when Chrysler Corp. appeared headed for bankruptcy in 1978.

“That reminded me how much Indiana needs a great Chrysler Corporation and how much America needs a great Chrysler Corporation and the great products it’s going to produce,” the governor said.

“We are determined to make sure the company realized it picked the perfect place to build the best products in the world.”