Fiat Chrysler to Build More Vans in Windsor

"thebigbossyboss" (thebigbossyboss) 01/13/2015 at 07:09 • Filed to: None

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV plans to assemble a Chrysler crossover vehicle at its minivan plant in Windsor, Ont., a move that should keep the busiest vehicle assembly plant in Canada humming on three shifts.

Fiat Chrysler chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne said the Windsor factory will assemble the vehicle if Chrysler decides to go ahead with it.

"It's the natural place," Mr. Marchionne told reporters Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Mr. Marchionne revealed Monday that the auto maker will spend more than $2-billion to develop and engineer the new minivan and retool the Windsor plant to make it.

The company withdrew a request last year for financial assistance from the federal and provincial governments after delays in negotiations with governments and criticism of government help in some political circles.

There had been fears that Fiat Chrysler could reduce the plant to two shifts of workers from three shifts amid a stagnant minivan market and a shift in the company's minivan strategy to offer a single line of the vehicles instead of the current two.

The Windsor minivan plant produced more vehicles last year than any other assembly plant in Canada. The plant employs 5,100 people working on three shifts and it has been running on three shifts since 1994, producing one of the auto maker's most popular and important vehicles.

It will be shut down for three months beginning in February as the auto maker tools up the plant to produce the next generation of minivans, which Mr. Marchionne said he intends to see on dealers' lots during the first quarter of 2016.

But Fiat Chrysler will limit its offerings to just the Chrysler Town & Country model, eliminating the Grand Caravan version it also sells now.

Minivan production has topped 300,000 every year at the Windsor plant since 2010.

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