FCA US announced today a $1 billion investment in manufacturing plants in Michigan and Ohio, which will pave the way for its new Jeep pickup and bring back heavy-duty truck production from Mexico.
The investment means the addition of 2,000 new jobs in the U.S. Consistent and combined with previously announced investments, FCA US is further demonstrating its commitment to strengthening its U.S. manufacturing base, and aligning U.S. capacity to extend the Jeep product lineup.
In total, FCA US has committed investments of more than $9.6 billion in its U.S. manufacturing facilities and created 25,000 new jobs to date since 2009.
Today’s announcement is the second phase of an industrialization plan announced in January 2016. The plan called for the realignment of the automaker’s U.S. manufacturing operations to fully utilize available capacity to respond to a shift in market demand for trucks and SUVs, and to further expand the Jeep and Ram brands.
With the $1 billion investment, FCA US will retool and modernize the Warren Truck Assembly Plant (Michigan) to produce the all-new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, and the south plant of the Toledo Assembly Complex (Ohio) to build an all-new Jeep pickup truck.
Plant changes should be implemented by 2020. More than 2,000 jobs also will be added to support production of these models. The added benefit of the investment in Warren is that it will enable the plant to produce the Ram heavy duty truck, which is currently produced in Mexico.
“The conversion of our industrial footprint completes this stage of our transformation as we respond to the shift in consumer tastes to trucks and SUVs, and as we continue to reinforce the U.S. as a global manufacturing hub for those vehicles at the heart of the SUV and truck market,” said Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FCA N.V. “These moves, which have been under discussion with Dennis Williams and the rest of the UAW leadership for some time, expand our capacity in these key segments, enabling us to meet growing demand here in the U.S., but more importantly to increase exports of our mid-size and larger vehicles to international markets.
“The expansion of our Jeep lineup has been and continues to be the key pillar of our strategy. Our commitment to internationalize the Jeep brand is unwavering, and with these last moves, we will finally have the capacity to successfully penetrate markets other than the U.S. which have historically been denied product due to capacity constraints. In addition, these all-new products will reach new consumers, as well as those that have been part of the Jeep tradition.”
The actions announced today are subject to the negotiation and final approval of incentives by state and local entities.
In July 2016, FCA made two announcements involving production shifts at three plants to gain additional capacity for the Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Cherokee and Ram Light Duty Truck.
The first announcement confirmed a more than $1 billion investment and the addition of 1,000 jobs at its Illinois and Ohio plants. The company will invest $350 million in the Belvidere Assembly Plant (Illinois) to produce the Jeep Cherokee, which will move from its current production location in Toledo, Ohio, in 2017. Approximately 300 new jobs would be created.
Following the move of Cherokee to Belvidere, FCA dwill invest $700 million in the Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio to retool the North plant to produce the next generation Jeep Wrangler. Approximately 700 new jobs will be added.
In the second announcement, FCA US announced that it will invest nearly $1.5 billion in its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Michigan to retool the facility to build the next generation Ram 1500. In September, FCA committed to adding 700 new jobs to support production.
