An auto parts manufacturer plans on spending $18.5 million to expand its northeastern Indiana operations after winning a contract to supply emission-control parts to Chrysler.

Tenneco Inc. officials announced the expansion plans during Thursday night's Ligonier City Council meeting. Hiring for about 100 new workers at the factory will start in January.

The Lake Forest, Ill.-based company already has more than 430 full-time workers at a factory in the city about 40 miles northwest of Fort Wayne. Tenneco says it will lease and equip a 50,000-square-foot facility.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Tenneco up to $600,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $68,000 in training grants based on the company's job-creation plans. 

The city is working with Tenneco on a nearly $2.3 million bond issue to help finance the expansion.

Tenneco also has factories in the northern Indiana cities of Elkhart and Angola.