US carmaker Ford Motor is investing $220m in its Van Dyke Transmission plant in Sterling Heights, and has added a new assembly line for the production of front-wheel- drive hybrid transmission.

The investment is part of $632m expansion plan to increase capacity and flexibility at three North American transmission plants by 2015.

The investment will also transform the Van Dyke Transmission plant into a new facility which will be capable of manufacturing the company's new hybrid transmission, the HF35, in addition to other fuel-efficient transmissions.

HF35 incorporates two electric motors and is claimed to be the company's first hybrid transmission to be designed and built as earlier the transmissions were imported from a supplier in Japan.

According to Ford, the new transmissions will support the C-MAX Hybrid, C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, Fusion Hybrid, Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.