FCA-UAW Contract Sees Trucks Coming Home, Cars Going to Mexico

by Mark Stevenson

September 17th, 2015 9:25 PM

fca uaw contract sees trucks coming home cars going to mexico

Ram production will be coming back to the United States and car production moving to FCA’s Mexican operations, Automotive News is reporting citing anonymous sources.

The news comes just days after FCA and the UAW tentatively agreed to a new national contract while locals continue to hammer out the finer details at the plant level. According to the report, there will also be some movement of products within U.S. borders between FCA plants.

The biggest change is something that’s been hinted at for a while — the full return of Ram 1500 production to the United States. Production of the pickup is currently split between Toluca, Mexico and Warren, Michigan. The report states Ram 1500 will move to Sterling Heights, Michigan, a plant currently occupied by the Chrysler 200.

Jeep Cherokee will reportedly move from Toledo, Ohio, a plant it currently shares with the Wrangler, to Belvidere, Illinois, a plant currently occupied by the Dodge Dart. The extra capacity at Toledo will allow it to produce more Wranglers and a new Wrangler-based pickup.

Now without a home, Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart production will be shuttled off the Mexico. Toluca currently produces the Dodge Journey (unlikely to change) and Fiat 500, the latter of which will have its production centered at FCA’s Polish assembly plant that produces the same model. Ram 2500 and 3500 production will remain in Saltillo.

The exodus of Ram 1500 production in Warren leaves that plant to receive the future Jeep Grand Wagoneer — a new [s]body-on-frame[/s] unibody, three-row, luxury SUV. That new model is expected to be a platform mate to the next Jeep Grand Cherokee, thus allowing Warren to handle overflow production for the Jefferson plant.

Not detailed in the report are the Jeep Compass/Patriot twins, a possible Chrysler 100 sedan and promised midsize and full-size Chrysler crossovers.

#Contract #Dodge #Fca #Jeep #Mexico #Production #Ram #Uaw

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Big Al from Oz on Sep 17, 2015

I don't see this as a bonus. What vehicle is the most impacted due to oil price movement and economic anomalies? The pickup. I bet my balls when the sh!t sooner or later hits the fan with oil prices and an economic downturn the UAW will expect no workers to be laid off, or given an unrealistic redundancy. To few eggs in the one basket. Diversification of vehicle manufacturing is required and the removal of the chicken tax to allow the importation of more pickups will create a better vehicle manufacturing sector in the US. Then what happens when the chicken tax is eventually removed?? Hmmm.................another potentially poor and short term look at the world by the UAW.

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- Bball40dtw on Sep 17, 2015
  
  I actually agree with you. It is great in the short term for the UAW, but what happens when gas goes to $5 again? I worry less about the chicken tax. We are going to get cars built in new markets in SE Asia before trucks.
  
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- DenverMike on Sep 17, 2015
  
  @BAFO - It's unclear why you insist removing the chicken tax will bring a tidal wave of global pickups. Likely not many. It's even less clear why you think fullsize pickup sales will suffer. They will cannibalize many segments, least of which will be fullsize pickups. High fuel prices in the past have had negligible impact on fullsize pickup sales. Many that did step down to a midsize vehicle quickly found it hardly worth it. Others experienced worse fuel economy, than their fullsize, Not to mention making more trips to accomplish the same task. With an economic downturn, what can be done? For now, might as sell as many mid level to luxury fullsize pickups as consumers want, or can stand. What's a better way to prepare for a downturn than cash in the bank plus assets? Then adjust the products accordingly, Focus/Fiesta pickups and whatnot, if necessary. We could all be riding Mopeds anyway.
  
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- Big Al from Oz on Sep 17, 2015
  
  DenverMike, Are you trolling again??? Read my comment, where do I state "tidal wave" of imports??? Hmmmm.......and some wonder why you've been branded DiM.
  
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- DenverMike on Sep 17, 2015
  
  @Big Al from Oz Why would anything less than a tidal wave impact fullsize pickups, or the market in general? If it's an amount hardly worth mentioning, why bring them up constantly. Point is you won't own a Chinese pickup, nor would anyone you know. By the way, the '80s Mini-Truck Craze was exactly a tidal wave but wasn't hardly felt by fullsize pickups.
  
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- Lou_BC on Sep 17, 2015
  
  @Big Aluminum Diversification at least on paper sounds great but the so called domestic auto companies have to try to sell to a consumer base that wants and expects larger vehicles. If one looks at the Top Sellers in the USA for 2014, we see full sized pickups holding 1st,2nd,and 3rd. 4th,5th,and 7th are “larger” cars. Expand that to Top 30 and we see a few larger SUVs and one more large pickup brand. Either way one slices it, the UAW will face issues if the economy worsens but then again that applies equally to every other sector in the USA. The removal of the chicken tax will help the consumer that still has money but not domestic (built in the USA) auto production. There should be open competition in all markets but since the future President of the USA wants to prove he actually is a Republican, he will become isolationistic. He already said that he will make the rest of the world respect the USA again.
  
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- Highdesertcat on Sep 17, 2015
  
  @Lou_BC " since the future President of the USA wants to prove he actually is a Republican, he will become isolationistic." There will not be a Republican POTUS in 2017. What I see in my crystal ball, as an Independent, is a Joe Biden/Hilary Clinton ticket and many Independents like myself will support that along with all Democrats. There aren't enough Republicans in America to elect one of their own, unless they can get a huge Independent turn-out to support that candidate. And that ain't gonna happen with the lot on the podium yesterday. The Republicans have nothing. No candidate. No platform. No direction. The Democrats today are no better. Biden has to step in to seal the deal for the Democrats because no Democrat can swallow Bernie. Mark my words. It WILL affect the US auto industry. You read it here first.
  
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- Lou_BC on Sep 18, 2015
  
  highdesertcat - I doubt the next President will be the "Comb-Over in Chief". The next President will be a Bush unless she does "Brazilian" ;) I was expecting Aluminum Al to bite on that one. Who knows, "Comb-over in Chief" has a nice ring to it. LOL
  
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- Vulpine on Sep 18, 2015
  
  @highdesertcat I'm beginning to think a Biden/Sanders ticket will be the winner. Sanders tends to make incredible sense and doesn't seem as "extremist" as some consider Clinton to be. Not saying I will vote for him in the primaries though--I'm stuck with trying to figure out which clown is the least ridiculous on the other side of the aisle.
  
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- Lou_BC on Sep 18, 2015
  
  Vulpine- It is sad when the selection process shifts to "which one is the least ridiculous". The thing that makes it even more pathetic is people will vote for the "Comb over in Chief" just because they think "any Republican" is better than "any Democrat".
  
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- Vulpine on Sep 18, 2015
  
  @Vulpine Funny thing about that, Lou. I knew about Trump long before he became what he is now. I used to live less than 30 miles from Dalton, Ga, where he 'found' Ivana. Even then, I made myself a promise I would have nothing to do with ANYTHING he did in the future. I certainly pray the Republican voter realizes just how bad he is before it's too late.
  
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Lorenzo on Sep 18, 2015

You may have to wait a decade or more to see $5 gas (outside of California) with all the new oil coming to market. Another downturn would kill demand and oil prices along with it. You're all VERY premature in the Presidential Sweepstakes. Nobody in either party has nailed down anything yet, the first primary is five months away, and the delegate-rich primaries months after that. If Hillary loses front-runner status (and Obama could make her twist in the wind legally), both nominations could be up for grabs. Don't forget, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Mitt Romney, John McCain, Al Gore, John Kerry, even Mike Dukakis, are all still eligible to run and have experience running for President, and don't rule out Jerry Brown either. Anybody know what Ross Perot and Steve Forbes are up to? How about another billionaire like Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, or Larry Ellison jumping in? Okay, a few are too old, and some are too smart (that's the problem with the process - people smart enough to do a good job are too smart to run), but with no incumbent running, anything can happen!

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