Fiat Investing $1 Billion in Ohio, Michigan Plants

Fiat-Chrysler is bringing 2,000 jobs to Ohio and Michigan as part of a $1 billion industrialization investment, the company announced Sunday. Specifically, plants in Warren, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio, will begin making the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer and a Jeep pickup truck, respectively.

The Toledo and Warren plants will be modernized as part of the investment; both plants will be updated by 2020. Once the modernization is complete, the Warren plant may also begin producing the Ram heavy-duty truck, which is currently being made 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, CEO of FCA N.V., said in a news release.

Marchionne noted that the factory updates will allow the company to meet increasing U.S. needs and increase the company's export capabilities for the vehicles.

“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 US 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,” Marchionne said.

It is not yet clear what a Jeep pickup will look like. The Detroit Auto Show is this week, and Marchionne is scheduled to speak on Monday morning, so he could illuminate the public at that point.

This is the second large-scale investment in the Ohio plant by FCA. The first came in July 2016, when the company announced a $1 billion investment and 1,000 additional jobs in Illinois and Ohio plants. Specifically, the Ohio plant was redesigned to produce the Jeep Wrangler, adding 700 jobs to the factory.

This announcement comes about a week after President-elect Donald J. Trump tweeted that General Motors, which manufactures the majority of its U.S.-made Chevrolet Cruzes in the Cleveland suburb of Lordstown, Ohio, will face a “big border tax” if any of the compact sedans manufactured in Mexico are imported to the United States.

Trump also blasted Ford for its plans to build a $1.65 billion plant in Mexico. Following the lambasting, Ford announced it would instead invest $700 million in a suburban Detroit plant, creating 700 jobs to build “high-tech autonomous and electric vehicles along with the Mustang and Lincoln Continental.”

Photo from FCA