Jeep confirms new ute

Expansion means the Jeep pickup will go ahead along with a push into new markets

FCA US has announced a total of $US1 billion investment in plants in Michigan and Ohio, and the return of the Jeep Wagoneer along with an all-new ute version of the Wrangler.

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.

With the $1 billion investment, FCA US will retool and modernise the Warren Truck Assembly Plant (Mich.) 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.

The announcement is the second phase of an industrialisation plan announced in January 2016. The plan called for the realignment of the Company’s U.S. manufacturing operations to fully utilise available capacity to respond to a shift in market demand for trucks and SUVs, and to further expand the Jeep and Ram brands.

These actions are planned to be completed by 2020.

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 internationalise 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.

Jeep confirms new ute

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