Signs that the US auto industry is getting back on its feet come with announcements from Ford and Chrysler to redevelop and re-open shuttered plants creating thousands of jobs.
Ford has received approval for US$20m in state tax credits to redevelop its Wixom assembly plant as a long-planned alternative-energy industrial park and resuscitate one of the auto industry’s largest factory casualties.
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Chrysler will reopen its Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit for the production of the next generation SRT Viper.
Wixom’s 4m-sq-ft property will become home to private industrial companies, including renewable-energy manufacturers, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp. One alternative-energy company already plans to locate there, creating up to 875 jobs.
The 317-acre site will be divided into two project areas and Ford will sell or lease space in each area and create an estimated 600 jobs, according to the state economic agency.
The project will be a boost for the Oakland County community which took an economic blow when the plant closed in 2007 after 50 years of assembling iconic vehicles such as the Lincoln Town Car and the Ford Thunderbird.
Since then, other proposals for the site have fallen through. Warner Bros Pictures showed interest in redeveloping the site as a movie studio in 2008 when Michigan offered generous tax credits to the film industry.
The following year, Ford presented the state with plans to turn the site into a US$725mn renewable-energy park including Austin-based battery maker Xtreme Power and Santa Barbara, California-based solar company Clairvoyant Energy.
That project, which was expected to bring 4,300 jobs to Michigan, fell apart when the companies didn’t win the US Department of Energy loans needed to finance their plans.
Chrysler’s Conner facility was idled when production of the Dodge Viper ended in July 2010. With its reopening, nearly 150 jobs, both hourly and salaried, will return to Detroit.
Chrysler said the next generation Viper will return to the product line-up in late 2012 as a 2013 model.
Current Chrysler Group hourly employees who previously worked at Conner were first offered the opportunity to return to their home plant. The balance of the positions will be filled by hourly employees volunteering to transfer to the Conner Avenue plant.
Viper production began in May 1992 at the New Mack Assembly Plant, then moved to the Conner Avenue site in October 1995.
Half of closed automaker sites re-used – CAR
