Stellantis invests $406 million in its American factories

The difficulties encountered on the American market do not call into question the underlying strategy at Stellantis. The Franco-Italian-American manufacturer, which makes almost half of its sales in North America, announced on Wednesday September 11 that it is investing 406 million dollars (368 million euros) to modernize three of its American factories.

Objective of the operation: to support its multi-energy strategy, which consists of manufacturing models with different powertrains (thermal, hybrid and electric) on the same production line and which proves to be effective in an uncertain automobile market.

All located in the state of Michigan, the Sterling Heights and Warren assembly plants and the Dundee Engine machining site will share the envelope. In detail, $235.5 million will be injected into the Sterling Heights plant, which is to produce the first electric model of the Ram brand, the 1500 REV, from 2025. Stellantis assures that “the Sterling Heights Assembly plant (SHAP) will become the company’s first American production site to produce an all-electric vehicle.”

Investments to produce Jeep and Ram

For its part, the Warren pickup plant (which will lay off nearly 2,500 people) will receive approximately $97.6 million for the production of the future electric Jeep Wagoneer. The remaining $73 million will be invested at the Dundee site to assemble, weld and test the battery trays for the STLA Frame platform, and to machine the front and rear cross members for the STLA Large platform, explains Stellantis, which specifies that production of these two elements will start respectively in 2024 and 2026.

“These investments to support the Jeep and Ram brands allow us to bring major innovations to our manufacturing footprint in Michigan and support a multi-energy, customer-first approach,” said Carlos Tavares, quoted in the press release.

The announcement comes just weeks after the CEO’s highly anticipated trip across the Atlantic, where the group suffered from a high vehicle inventory, which weighed significantly on its first-half financial results. Taking responsibility for these errors, the Portuguese CEO also mentioned inefficiencies in two American factories, without specifying which ones.