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Pandemic slows reopening of Fiat Chrysler factory in Kokomo

(Photo Provided/Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP/Inside INdiana Business) — Fiat Chrysler has pushed back the reopening of a shuttered Indiana factory until late 2021, blaming delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Holcomb first announced the project during his State of the State address in January.

Company officials had announced in March a $400 million plan to convert a Kokomo transmission factory so that it could begin engine production within the first three months of 2021.

A Fiat Chrysler spokeswoman says that reopening has been delayed, in part because of the company’s eight-week shutdown earlier this year.

Officials said the project would retain about 1,000 jobs and add nearly 200, boosting Fiat Chrysler’s workforce at its Kokomo-area factories to more than 8,000.