Chrysler Group chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne has confirmed spending totaling US$1.249bn at two Saltillo, Mexico, factories and the creation of 1,570 jobs during a dedication event at the new van assembly plant.
Of the total, $1.085bn was spent building the van plant to produce the Ram ProMaster commercial vehicle, a NAFTA variant of the Ducato Fiat builds in a joint venture with PSA in Europe – there also Peugeot and Citron versions.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The additional $164m will add a new production line to assemble Tigershark engines at the Saltillo North Engine Plant. Mexican development banks Bancomext and Nafin provided financial support for the van plant project.
The van plant began production last July 2013 and will have added 1,100 new jobs by December. The engine plant will add 470 jobs taking employment in Saltillo to nearly 6,500. The ProMaster and Tigershark engine will both be exported under free trade agreements that Mexico has with several countries.
The ProMaster will be sold in Mexico, US and Canada. It is the only vehicle of its kind to be produced in Mexico. Its six-speed automatic transmission is claimed to unique to the segment.
The engine plant will assemble two and 2.4 litre Tigershark engines alongside Hemi V8s. The 2.4 has Fiat’s advanced MultiAir system and is used in the 2014 Jeep Cherokee and Dodge Dart. Production will begin in the first quarter of 2014.
Chrysler de Mexico was established in 1938 and is headquartered in Santa Fe. It has six plants located in Toluca and Saltillo, and an automotive engineering centre in Mexico City. Factories include Toluca assembly and stamping plants, Saltillo truck assembly and stamping plants and two engine plants.
Toluca makes body panels and assembles the Dodge Journey, Fiat 500 and Fiat Freemont. Saltillo makes 5.7 and 6.4 litre Hemi V8s and the 3.6 litre Pentastar V6 and builds Ram 1500, 2500/3500, Mega Cab, 3500 Chassis Cab, 4500/5500 and DX chassis cab truck models plus related body panels.
The engineering centre includes vehicle testing, pollution/emission labs, material engineering, metrology, and engine and transmission dynamometers.
