Jeep Wrangler to stay in Toledo, Cherokee leaving, Wrangler-based pickup coming

BREAKING NEWS: arriva il pick-up Wrangler ! Fossi GM, sarei molto preoccupato per la sorte del Colorado/Canyon....

[h=1]Jeep Wrangler to stay in Toledo, Cherokee leaving, Wrangler-based pickup coming[/h]CEO Sergio Marchionne says that the automaker has “found a solution” to the question of how best to expand production of the Jeep Wrangler.

Larry P. Vellequette

Automotive News

September 1, 2015 - 11:00 am ET -- UPDATED: 9/1/15 11:28 am ET -- adds details

DETROIT -- Fiat Chrysler has decided to keep making the Jeep Wrangler in Toledo, Ohio, move production of the Jeep Cherokee to a nearby state and build a Jeep pickup.

The news comes after 11 months of uncertainty about the fate of Wrangler production in its historic home.

Details about the Wrangler and Cherokee were shared with Toledo plant management this morning in response to inquiries from Automotive News, based on an exclusive interview with CEO Sergio Marchionne on Aug. 21.

Automotive News has learned independently that Jeep will make a Wrangler-based pickup in Toledo, a move that will soften the blow of a transferred Cherokee -- Jeep’s best-selling vehicle.

Jeep showed the Gladiator concept, a Wrangler-based pickup, in 2005.

Marchionne said that the automaker has “found a solution” to how best expand production of the Wrangler -- in Toledo.

Details of the plan will be announced after FCA’s contract talks with the UAW conclude; the contract expires Sept. 14. Separately, Automotive News has confirmed that the plan includes building a long-sought Wrangler-based pickup, likely in 2017 or 2018. That vehicle is under development.

In the interview, Marchionne provided some details of the emerging plan:

“We found a solution that accommodates a variety of other interests to us because of the way in which we can move some product around,” the CEO said. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist [to know] that the only way I can move around the Wrangler is to move it into the other Toledo plant.”

An FCA spokeswoman said the company would not comment and that the CEO’s quotes stood for themselves.

Marchionne has said since January that he preferred to keep Wrangler production in Toledo.

FCA’s Toledo Assembly Complex is composed of two plants: one smaller body-on-frame plant that builds the Wrangler and another nearly new unibody plant that builds the Cherokee. The two lines share some common parts staging, but otherwise operate independently.

The plan would require the unibody plant, locally known as Toledo North, to be converted to body-on-frame assembly. The redesigned Wrangler would launch there.

Loss of the Cherokee is a blow to Toledo, which had sought to keep the vehicle and expand Wrangler production. Through August, the Cherokee is Jeep’s top-selling vehicle in the U.S., averaging 17,611 sales per month. However, that wound may be salved if new vehicles to be added prove as popular.

FCA’s plan would ensure that Wrangler production would continue while the plant is retooled for the redesigned 2018 Wrangler. The off-roader is one of the automaker’s most popular and profitable vehicles. Production of the redesigned Wrangler and pickup is planned to reach 350,000 per year, according to suppliers briefed on the plan.

The Cherokee would move, likely to Sterling Heights Assembly in Michigan, or possibly Belvidere Assembly in Illinois. Both plants are capable of building the Cherokee with little or no retooling, as the Cherokee shares a platform with the Chrysler 200 built in Sterling Heights and the Dodge Dart built in Belvidere.

Converting Toledo Assembly to all body-on-frame construction would solve another problem for FCA, Marchionne hinted.

It would allow FCA to retool Warren Assembly in Michigan, where it makes the hot-selling Ram 1500 pickup. Marchionne said that, like the Wrangler, he can’t afford to lose production of the Ram 1500 in order to retool.

“We still have Warren that’s not fixed from a manufacturing standpoint,” the CEO said. Marchionne said his two constraints are “that I can’t take down a day of Wranglers, and I can’t take down a day of trucks. So I need to move them around.”

A Wrangler-based pickup has been on Jeep enthusiasts’ wish list since the brand showed the Jeep Gladiator concept in 2005. The Gladiator was built on a Ram 1500 frame and shared Wrangler styling.

It is unknown whether the Wrangler-based pickup would be Gladiator-sized or smaller, to compete with the redesigned Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, as well as a potential Ford Ranger pickup. Either way, the Jeep badge and underpinnings should allow it to sell at a premium above those offerings.

Unknown for now is what will happen to land the city of Toledo assembled for a possible Jeep expansion.

Toledo economic development officials have sought ways to close the cost gap and keep Wrangler in its historic home. For years, Toledo had been quietly buying industrial land adjacent to FCA’s sprawling Toledo Assembly Complex in case expansion was needed. To date, more than 100 acres are available nearby. That land could be made available for suppliers, or it could be saved for future expansion of the current Wrangler line.

mica brutto....

Non oso immaginare come si staranno spippolando in questo momento i fan del marchio Jeep in altri lidi...

La notizia non è che faranno il pick-up a base Wrangler. Quello l'avevano già deciso da almeno un lustro. Solo che non c'era capacità produttiva per fare abbastanza Wrangler normali, figuriamoci il pick-up-

La vera notizia è che hanno trovato il posto per farlo.

Cacciano Cherokee da un'altra parte e useranno lo spazio per il nuovo Wrangler, prevedendo di farne di più e anche con margine per il pick-up.

Il colpo di genio è che in questo modo riusciranno a preparare le linee del nuovo Wrangler in un posto, mentre continueranno a produrre l'attuale da un'altra parte, senza perdere vendite per un solo mese.

Quindi niente buco produttivo di 3 o 4 mesi e crollo di vendite per 6 mesi, come sta succedendo per il Town&Country.

L'ulteriore colpo di genio è che in questo modo avranno la possibilità, Maglione dixit su Autonews, di trasferire momentaneamente a Toledo la produzione del pick-up RAM al momento opportuno, ossia quando avvieranno la ristrutturazione dell'impianto di Warren, cosicchè anche in questo caso avranno la possibilità di soddisfare il mercato senza arrestare la produzione. Piuttosto, per avere una vaga idea di quanto conti RAM e soprattutto il Wrangler nei conti di FCA, Maglione non si fa scrupoli a rimettere mano ad un impianto appena rifatto, ossia Toledo North dove producono il Cherokee, pur di non arrestare la produzione del Wrangler medesimo e pur di trovare posto al suddetto RAM ed al pick-up Jeep. Difatti, sarà necessario convertire Toledo North da impianto unibody a body-on-frame. Immagino che la cosa tanto economica non sia....

Avrà avuto pure qualche ''aiutino'' economico per mantenere la produzione del Wrangler a Toledo.

Avrà avuto pure qualche ''aiutino'' economico per mantenere la produzione del Wrangler a Toledo.

In realtà ufficialmente le autorità di Toledo si erano mosse acquistando terreni attorno al polo produttivo per un eventuale/possibile/probabile espansione del medesimo (se non ricordo male trattasi di una spesa attorno ai 100 mln $). Ma, di fronte a tale notizia, del terreno non ve ne sarà bisogno.....Io propenderei più per eventuali concessioni da parte dei sindacati.......

DETROIT -- Tougher fuel economy and emissions standards won't mean the death of Fiat Chrysler's V-8 engine lineup, CEO Sergio Marchionne says.

But in an interview with Automotive News last month, Marchionne conceded that it is getting harder for FCA to stay in compliance with the federal corporate average fuel economy rules. For now, he said, the key for keeping powerful engines in FCA's lineup is the purchase of clean air credits.

"One of the things that we learned to do is how to buy stuff," Marchionne said. "We buy credits. ... The purchase and sale of credits is actually more efficient than capital today."

FCA lags behind every other mass-market automaker in fleet fuel economy and emissions. According to the EPA, FCA was the industry's largest purchaser of emissions credits for the 2013 model year, the most recent year for which figures are available. FCA purchased most of its credits from Tesla Motors.

Under EPA rules, the credits serve as a form of currency. Automakers can offset their carbon footprint with emission credits earned by the sale of other vehicles.

While other automakers have used strategies such as turbocharging smaller displacement engines or direct injection to achieve fuel economy gains, FCA has chosen to increase the horsepower of existing engines.

Recently, speculation on the FCA-centric site Allpar.com has suggested that the company might be forced by fuel economy regulations to abandon its V-8 Hemi engines or even its 707-hp Hellcat V-8 in favor of turbocharged V-6 offerings.

But Marchionne threw water on that idea. Asked whether new regulations will mean the death of V-8s such as the Hellcat, he said: "No. We offset. I mean, every time we do one of those things, we offset."

"One of the things that we learned to do is how to buy stuff. We buy credits … the purchase and sale of credits is actually more efficient than capital today."

Sergio Marchionne

Still, automakers won't be able to purchase credits from one another forever. That has meant an engineering push inside FCA to find another solution.

"The biggest challenge for me now is to find truly a compact and midsize car solution that is actually [greenhouse gas] positive, by a stretch," the CEO said. "And you know how the rules are, so it's a question of footprint and so on. I need to find a solution, so I've got a bunch of kids who are sitting in the basement tearing apart the front end to find out whether we can find a way out."

The other major powertrain issue hanging over FCA has been ongoing performance problems with its nine-speed automatic transmission. The nine-speed, which debuted in the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, had been the source of troubling consumer complaints even as it rolled out in other vehicles. Earlier this month, FCA said it had produced its one-millionth unit of the nine-speed at its massive transmission complex in Kokomo, Ind.

Marchionne said changes have been made to the nine-speed for the 2016 model year that should quiet its critics.

"We've been working our ass off with [designer ZF Friedrichshafen] on the nine speed," he said. "There were some things that were built in as a technical solution that proved to be, in hindsight, unwise, and so the remedial stuff has been put in place."

http://www.autonews.com/article/20150914/OEM01/309149958/marchionne-says-fca-will-continue-to-make-v-8s-despite-tightening

Speriamo sia la volta buona che sistemino tutti i problemi del 9HP.

Fca: negli Usa aumenti, premi, investimenti. E le auto meno redditizie traslocano in Messico - Il Sole 24 ORE

Quindi a quanto sembra Chrysler 200 e Dodge Dart a Toluca al posto di Freemont/Journey e 500.

Chissà che non sia un'opportunità di farle arrivare (quanto meno la 200 come Lancia o Fiat) in EU... D'altronde le auto prodotte in Messico importandole non pagano il 10% di dazi previsti per le auto di provenienza USA e Canada.