Chrysler LLC plans a US$1.8bn investment in a new car-based SUV and the Jefferson North assembly plant in Detroit where it will be built from 2010.
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The automaker said it plans a “new generation of world-class vehicles” for the plant which will get a new body shop plus upgrades to its paint and assembly facilities ready for the redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee replacement by 2010.
This will result in greater manufacturing flexibility and capability, Chrysler chairman and president Tom LaSorda told the 2008 Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City.
News agency reports said the new car-based sport utility vehicle would be more fuel-efficient than the current truck-based Grand Cherokee and would be equipped with the company’s new Phoenix line of fuel-efficient engines.
Chrysler spokewoman Shawn Morgan later told just-auto the automaker is not at present releasing further details of the new vehicle but confirmed it would be a “car-based SUV” and an “evolution of the current Grand Cherokee”.
“This investment in our future products and at Jefferson North will enable the company to produce a future generation of vehicles more efficiently, with world-class quality and an improved environmental footprint,“ Tom LaSorda said.
“We believe the Jefferson North makeover will give the facility and our company the upper hand on how responsive we can be to shifts in consumers’ needs and changing market demands,” added Chrysler’s manufacturing chief Frank Ewasyshyn. “We also believe this will be achieved while continuously improving the quality of our vehicles that will be produced in Detroit.”
A 285,000-square-foot building expansion at Jefferson North will replace the existing body shop, giving the plant greater manufacturing flexibility for multiple products .
Changes in the paint shop and assembly hall will accommodate vehicles of various sizes and dimensions while material handling and other plantr functions will also be improved.
Chrysler said employees would benefit from new levels of involvement and training to help complete the plant transformation. Much of the critical work required for facility and equipment preparation and installation would be carried out by plant, as a result of collaboration work between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers (UAW).
‘Green’ initiatives will include energy-efficient fluorescent lighting fixtures and a new energy management system, air filtration systems to improve employee comfort and workplace cleanliness, decanting technology to use paint sludge as an energy source, reducing emissions and solid waste, electric-servo weld guns in the new body shop to improve welding quality and reduce noise, replacing unused asphalt parking areas with grass to reduce heat generation and improve appearance, using reusable paint clips to hold doors in place during the paint process and reusing parts racks, resulting in reduced raw material consumption, and trailer cubing and rack density improvements to reduce fuel consumption and transport costs.
Chrysler said energy savings resulting from the sludge operations, filtration systems, lighting and servo welding alone should save several dollars per vehicle built.
The 2.7m-square-foot plant was built in 1991 and expanded in 1999 – its main product has always been the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The current Grand Cherokee began production in Augist 2004 and the Jeep Commander was added in July 2005.
