-- Chrysler Group LLC said on Thursday it has ended its engine manufacturing alliance with Hyundai Motor Co and Mitsubishi Motors Corp, the
latest partnership severed under the new management led by Fiat SpA.
South Korea's Hyundai and Japan's Mitsubishi have sold their interests in the joint venture plant with Chrysler in Dundee, Michigan, which has been building fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines since 2005.
The plant will now build engines for Chrysler vehicles only, including the Dodge Caliber, the Jeep Compass and the Jeep Patriot, the company said in a statement.
Chrysler Group, which emerged from bankruptcy in June by selling most of its assets to a group led by Fiat, has now unwound almost all manufacturing partnerships it had forged under two previous owners - Daimler AG and Cerberus Capital Management LP.
Last month, Chrysler and Nissan Motor Co Ltd said they abandoned vehicle-supply projects announced last year that would have provided Nissan with a Chrysler-produced pickup truck. Under the plans, Nissan would have also provided Chrysler with a small vehicle for global markets starting in 2010.
Chrysler filed for bankruptcy in the United States in April and its alliance with Fiat was cemented through that process. Fiat holds a 20 percent stake in the new Chrysler and controls management of the automaker.