The production of the FCA cars for the future will not be manufactured or assembled in the US. We already have heard the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200 would no longer be made by FCA and if they don’t find a partner willing to produce them these cars won’t be on the market much longer at all. Now we’ve gained more information into the plans of FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne in which he will move all production of cars made by FCA from the US to either Canada or Mexico in the near future.
Before you get upset wondering where these US jobs are going and think this is just another way to find cheaper labor in foreign nations you need to see what the rest of FCA production looks like. So far we’ve heard about the amount of money FCA intends to put into the Jeep plants to keep them going strong. Over $1 billion will go into two plants for Jeep, the one in Belvedere, IL where the Cherokee will move to be produced and the rest in the Toledo, OH plant where the Wrangler is currently built. This investment will expand the Toledo plant to increase Wrangler production and save the jobs of those in Belvedere who were building the Dodge Dart previously.
Another strong investment by FCA will be to pour $1.49 billion into the Sterling Heights plant in Michigan to retool the plant and set it up to make the RAM 1500 which is currently being made in Warren, MI. This move is expected to take place in 2018 and will give us the next generation of the RAM 1500 for us to enjoy and have a great new truck to enjoy.
What do these investments mean for FCA in the future? The move to have more money and retooling done at the Jeep and RAM plants shows a significant investment into these categories of vehicles in order to give us vehicles we already love and will continue to love. The segment of SUVs and trucks from FCA has been the most profitable for the company in the US over the past few years and these investments will help ensure that continues to be the case for the future.
What about the cars? It’s expected that the cars will continue to be sold, at least all of them except the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart, and there will be a profit margin growth that occurs just by moving the production to other countries. Even though Chrysler is a brand that once had to take US money for a bailout it’s no longer a brand of its own and was bought by Fiat and renamed. Hopefully there will be a partner to take over the Dart and 200 production for FCA, but from what you can see with the way they are moving things around their serious focus in the US is in the market of off road and larger vehicle mobility, which is why these are the areas they have invested billions of dollars in to improve.
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