FCA to invest US $ 1 billion more in US
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) US has confirmed the next phase of its industrialisation plan by announcing a total $1 billion investment in plants in Michigan and Ohio, and the addition of 2,000 new American jobs. In total, FCA US has committed investments of more than $9.6 billion in its US manufacturing facilities and created 25,000 new jobs to date since 2009.
The announcement is the second phase of an industrialisation plan announced in January 2016. The plan called for the realignment of the company’s US manufacturing operations to utilise fully the 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 in Michigan to produce the all-new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, and the south plant of the Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio to build an all-new Jeep pickup truck. These expansion programmes are planned to be completed 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 US as a global manufacturing hub for those vehicles at the heart of the SUV and truck market,” Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive Officer of FCA NV, said.
“The expansion of our Jeep lineup has been and continues to be the key pillar of our strategy. Our commitment to internationalise the Jeep brand is unwavering, and with these last moves, we will finally have the capacity to penetrate markets other than the US which have historically been denied product due to capacity constraints. In addition, these allnew products will reach new consumers, as well as those that have been part of the Jeep tradition,” Marchionne said.