Chrysler to Add 1,100 Jobs in Toledo, Ohio

The new jobs, to be filled in 2013, amount to more than half of the 2,100 that Chrysler committed to creating under the four-year labor agreement that its unionized workers ratified in October.

“We are taking a big step forward toward fulfilling that promise today,” Chrysler’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, said during a ceremony at the Toledo Assembly Complex.

The investment will allow the plant to build replacements for two small S.U.V.’s, the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro. Mr. Marchionne said the Liberty replacement might instead be called the Cherokee, resurrecting a nameplate that Chrysler discontinued in the United States a decade ago but still uses elsewhere in the world.

Some of the S.U.V.’s built in Toledo will be sold overseas as Jeep expands its presence in Russia, China and other countries, Mr. Marchionne said.

“The horrible thing about Jeep is that it’s never had a chance to be exploited internationally,” he said. “It’s the best brand at Chrysler by a long stretch.”

Chrysler is one of several carmakers adding large numbers of jobs in the United States after years of steep employment declines in the auto industry. On Thursday, Toyota is scheduled to begin production at a new plant in Mississippi that will employ about 2,000 people.

The mayor of Toledo, Mike Bell, described Chrysler’s announcement as “the equivalent of a blood transfusion” for this heavily industrial city along the Michigan border.

Chrysler said it planned to spend $500 million on an expanded body shop and other upgrades to the Toledo plant, which currently employs about 1,800 people and will gain a second shift when the new workers are hired.

“Not only is the company continuing to invest in its facilities,” General Holiefield, a United Automobile Workers union vice president, was quoted as saying in a statement released by Chrysler, “but it is adding jobs and securing the future of our current work force by demonstrating its commitment to the workers who have contributed to the company’s remarkable turnaround.”

The new workers will be paid entry-level wages, which start at about $15 an hour, a little more than half as much as most Chrysler workers earn now.

During labor negotiations this fall, Chrysler sought to eliminate a 25 percent cap on entry-level workers that takes effect in 2015. The union rejected that request.

Chrysler already has about 2,800 entry-level employees, 12 percent of its hourly work force.

Mr. Marchionne has said he wanted to eliminate the two-tier wage system, which is widely disliked within the U.A.W. but has been instrumental in persuading the automakers to add jobs. He clarified Wednesday that he did not want to reduce current workers’ wages, but rather that he wanted the two-tier system to be phased out as all of the full-wage workers eventually retire.

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