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2021
Jeep
Grand
Cherokee
L
vehicles
are seen
on the
final
line at
the
Detroit
Assembly
Complex
- Mack
Plant in
Detroit,
Michigan,
U.S.,
June 10,
2021.
Picture
taken
June 10,
2021.
REUTERS/Rebecca
Cook |
|
Detroit
becomes
'Jeep
City'
with
first
new auto
plant in
30 years
Reuters.com
DETROIT
- Inside
the
first
new auto
assembly
plant
built in
the
Motor
City
since
1991,
the
smell of
hot
metal
hangs in
the air
as new
Jeep
Grand
Cherokee
L SUVs
head
down the
welding
line.
For
Stellantis
NV,
(STLA.MI)
that is
the
smell of
money.
For the
City of
Detroit,
it means
nearly
5,000
jobs.
Stellantis
opened
the
doors of
its new
$1.6
billion
Mack
Avenue
assembly
complex
on
Thursday,
showing
off
parts of
a 3
million
square
foot
complex
completed
and
launched
into
production
largely
during
the
pandemic.
The
Grand
Cherokee
L
vehicles
on the
assembly
line are
the
first of
a new
generation
of
Jeep's
best-selling
model
line,
aimed at
expanding
the
brand's
sales to
customers
who want
an SUV
with
three
rows of
seats.
Until
now,
Grand
Cherokees
only
offered
seating
for
five.
Now,
with
room for
as many
as seven
passengers,
Jeep can
take on
rivals
such as
Ford
Motor
Co's
(F.N)
Explorer,
General
Motors
Co's
(GM.N)
GMC
Acadia
and
larger
SUVs
from
European
and
Japanese
brands.
The
plant,
which
began
building
vehicles
in
March,
now is
operating
three
shifts a
day,
plant
manager
Michael
Brieda
said.
In a
tight
labor
market,
Brieda
said the
biggest
challenge
the
plant
had "was
finding
people
capable
of
working
in a
manufacturing
environment."
Job
applicants
were
given
dexterity
tests as
part of
their
interviews,
he said.
About
2,100
Detroit
City
residents
have
been
hired at
the
plant,
the
company
said.
The new
Jeep
plant
underscores
the
split
personality
of the
United
States
vehicle
market,
where
most of
the
vehicles
coming
down the
Mack
assembly
line
will be
sold.
Tesla
Inc
(TSLA.O)
is the
industry's
most
valuable
automaker
thanks
to its
lead in
electric
vehicle
technology.
But for
Detroit's
automakers,
demand
for
pickup
trucks
and
decked-out
gasoline-fueled
SUVs
still
pays the
bills.
As the
Mack
assembly
complex
accelerates,
Stellantis
will
have two
adjacent
factories
in
Detroit
capable
of
building
500,000
or more
Grand
Cherokee
models a
year.
The
nearby
Jefferson
North
Jeep
plant
was
built in
1991 -
and
until
now was
the
Motor
City's
newest
assembly
plant.
Mario
Holmes,
the
manager
who
oversaw
the
development
of the
Grand
Cherokee
L, said
much
effort
went
into
designing
a new,
more
efficient
architecture
that
uses
aluminum
and
high-strength
steel to
cut
weight.
Though
the new
model
has
three
rows of
seats,
it's in
the same
weight
class as
five-passenger
SUVs, he
said.
There
will be
an
electrified
powertrain
offered,
but
details
on that
will
come
later,
he said.
One sign
of the
importance
of the
Grand
Cherokee
L is
that
Brieda,
the
plant
manager,
said he
has had
no
problems
getting
enough
semiconductors
for the
new
model,
even as
Stellantis
is
idling
assembly
lines
for
other
vehicles
amid a
global
shortage
of the
chips
needed
for
modern
motoring
systems.
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