Chrysler will build and install Mercedes transmissions in its vehicles starting in 2004, the first component sharing since the companies merged in 1998 to create the world’s number 5 auto maker, a top executive said. “We’re going to take their Mercedes W5A580 transmission and process, and transplant it in at the Indiana transmission plant for application in our products," Chrysler President and Chief Executive James Holden told Reuters in a recent interview. Chrysler, a unit of DaimlerChrysler, will assemble the rear-wheel-drive, automatic transmission for less than half the typical $1 billion it takes to develop a new transmission, Chrysler manufacturing chief Gary Henson said. However, DaimlerChrysler emphasized the Chrysler and Mercedes brands won’t share car platforms, or underpinnings. But more parts sharing is on the way. Starting next year, Stauch said Mercedes will build more than 40,000 four-and-five-cylinder diesel engines a year for the Grand Cherokees and Chrysler PT Cruisers sold in Europe, making the first use of a Mercedes engine in a vehicle other than a Mercedes. Chrysler will build the Mercedes transmission in a 600,000-square-foot addition at one of two Kokomo, IN. transmission plants, Henson said. The $455 million expansion will be completed over the next two years. The existing plant has the capacity to build 400,000 transmissions annually, a number that will double to 800,000 next year under an earlier plan. It makes transmissions for Jeep SUVs and Dodge trucks.