Chrysler’s new Kenosha Engine Plant manager wants to keep the site open and bring new work here, said a union official who met him Friday.

Glenn Stark, United Auto Workers Local 72 president, said the new facility leader, Bruce Baumbach, visited the local plant and they discussed its operations.

“He basically said he would be driving to make us too good to close,” said Stark. “He’s not here with the thought of the plant closing but to secure future work for us.”

Chrysler swapped Kevin Sell, Kenosha plant manager for the past three years, and Baumbach, who was manger at the company’s Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance LLC facility in Dundee, Mich.

Stark said Sell said last week he was being transferred. Sell and Baumbach could not be reached for comment.

GEMA was part of a 2002 cooperative approach among Chrysler, Mitsubishi Motors and Hyundai Motor Co. to create new engines. Chrysler has since bought out the other two manufacturers’ shares.

Fiat SpA, which took over Chrysler after the latter’s bankruptcy case ended in the summer, is planning to spend some $179 million during the next five years on the Dundee factory to build four-cylinder, 1.4 liter engines. The Dundee factory has been producing 1.8 to 2.4 liter, 4-cylinder engines for Chrysler.

Estimates are that the Dundee site could start with as many as 250,000 of the Italian company’s engines annually. That reportedly could add about 155 employees to the current 207.

Stark said Baumbach indicated he believed Kenosha was in a good position for the future and just needed to convince others.

Baumbach talked about other engine work that hasn’t been committed to particular plants yet, he said.

“So why not show that we are deserving of some type of product,” Stark said of the new manager’s view. “If Kenosha’s cost and quality is as good as any other location in the corporation, I don’t know why we wouldn’t be considered.”

Stark said Sell was a good spokesman for Kenosha and he probably would continue to speak well of the area while in Michigan. Stark said plant managers make moves every several years.

“Maybe we were surprised, given what our future looks like,” he said of Sell’s transfer. “But for Kevin, it’s a good career move.”