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FCA Confirms Grand Wagoneer & Pickup with $1b in Plant Retools to add 2k jobs in US


Anthony

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FCA US Expands Jeep® Product Lineup, Adding Jeep Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer, and a Jeep Pickup Truck; Makes Further Commitment to U.S. Manufacturing With $1 Billion in New Investment and 2,000 New Jobs

 

source: media.chrysler.com

  • Announcement is a continuation of the efforts already underway to increase production capacity in the U.S. on trucks and SUVs to match demand
  • Confirms addition of new models to award-winning Jeep® lineup – a Jeep pickup truck and the storied Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer
  • Investment includes retooling and modernization at Warren, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio, plants; creates additional 2,000 American jobs
  • Total U.S. committed investment grows to more than $9.6 billion since 2009, with 25,000 jobs created to date
  • Production moves solidify U.S. as the global manufacturing hub for the flagship Jeep products

January 8, 2017 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - FCA US today confirmed the next phase of its industrialization plan by announcing a total $1 billion investment in plants in Michigan and Ohio, and the addition of 2,000 new American jobs. 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 Company’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. These actions 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 U.S. as a global manufacturing hub for those vehicles at the heart of the SUV and truck market,” said Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive Officer 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,” said Marchionne.

 

The actions announced today are subject to the negotiation and final approval of incentives by state and local entities.

 

Previously Announced Actions
In July 2016, the Company 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, the Company will invest $700 million in the Toledo Assembly Complex (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 (Michigan) to retool it to build the next generation Ram 1500. In September, the Company committed to adding 700 new jobs to support production.

Edited by Anthony
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Now Warren Truck Assembly Plant currently makes Ram 1500 trucks. If they are going to build Wagoneers there.....could the BOF rumors from last month be true?

As in full size, pickup based SUV vs a stretched Grand Cherokee?

Edited by J-150
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Question of the Hour...what makes the Wagoneer different from the Grand Wagoneer? I'm assuming the Grand one will be larger and the one with the 100K+ price point...but I'm not 100% they can get there using a Ram pickup frame for that..

 

Yeah, I was curious about that as well.

 

Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer will supposedly be the same vehicle and size with the "Grand" begin the ultra luxo model.

 

Allpar "insider" folks are still saying the Grand Wagoneer will still be unibody (to answer my comment above)

 

Strange that they'll now be mixing their naming conventions. As Cherokee is smaller/a different vehicle than Grand Cherokee, whereas in this application (if you're correct), Wagoneer would be the "regular" model, with Grand Wagoneer being a nicer version of the same vehicle.

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Okay, a Jeep full size pickup is something which I agree with as well as a Jeep above Grand Cherokee... but two?!!! Maybe with one, prices can top out at close to 100,000 but having two in that space is absurd.

 

They are going to spend money on this while:

 

-There are no sedans below full sized card which are in decline.

 

-There are two stale CUVs in the biggest market in the Dodge division

 

-The mainstream brand has just two products and has rumours swirling that the sedan may be dropped leaving only one model and that model is a minivan!!

 

-The comeback of the Italian car which has been a sales disaster and the oldest most stale model is half the sales!

 

-Alfa gets money as well, but will never pass more than 10,000 sales a year in America...EVER!!!! VW has a better chance selling more Skodas in one month here.

 

These Jeep Wagoneer SUVs will be delayed, cancelled, revived and delayed again before they ever see the light of day as money from their wafer thin margins strangles them.

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Could Grand Wagoneer just be a long wheelbase Wagoneer like Yukon/Yukon XL?

Both these new Jeeps are an immediate part of the new RAM pickup program, so different wheelbases isn't out of the question. All the info I've received seems to point the other direction.

 

And, let's be honest: There's a LOT that needs to happen to get this project off the ground. Their projections are.... optimistic.

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Both these new Jeeps are an immediate part of the new RAM pickup program, so different wheelbases isn't out of the question. All the info I've received seems to point the other direction.

 

And, let's be honest: There's a LOT that needs to happen to get this project off the ground. Their projections are.... optimistic.

 

You mean like those Alfa projections?

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Wrangler is considered full size?

 

No the Wagoneer will have two models...the Wagoneer and the Grand Wagoneer...the Grand one will be the uber expensive model that supposedly will go up against Range Rover etc.

 

As for how they are different...that is up in the air now.

 

There are remanufactured Grand Wagoneers that go for stupid money

 

http://wagonmaster.com/inventory/

 

But its a very niche market...much like the Icon Broncos

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No the Wagoneer will have two models...the Wagoneer and the Grand Wagoneer...the Grand one will be the uber expensive model that supposedly will go up against Range Rover etc.

 

As for how they are different...that is up in the air now.

 

There are remanufactured Grand Wagoneers that go for stupid money

 

http://wagonmaster.com/inventory/

 

But its a very niche market...much like the Icon Broncos

 

I was referring to the truck.....he said "Jeep full size pickup."

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Assumption has been that the "Jeep pickup" would be like the Wrangler Gladiator conversion thing... but you know what happens when we assume.

 

I'm interested to see how much of this shakes out.

 

Yeah, that's what I figured....more or less a Wrangler with a bed.

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I was referring to the truck.....he said "Jeep full size pickup."

 

Oops! I read into that there would be a Pickup in addition to the Wrangler. I always thought a Jeep version of the Ram would be a great addition to the Jeep lineup and despite debate here, I believe that a Jeep pickup would command a better transaction price than a Ram.

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