FCA US will invest over $1bn in its assembly facilities in Illinois and Ohio to retool them in order to increase production of its Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler.
The Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio will receive an investment of $700m, which will be used for retooling the North plant to produce the next generation Jeep Wrangler.
The fresh lease of investment at the plant can create about 700 new jobs.
The facility is spread over 3.64 million ft2 with more than 5100 people being employed. It produces Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Wrangler unlimited and Jeep Cherokee.
First known as the Stickney plant, it was built in 1942 and was acquired from Autolite in 1964 for machining and engine plant production. In 1984, it was converted for vehicle production and started producing Jeep Grand Wagoneer until 1991.
After Chrysler acquired American Motors Corporation, the plant was renamed as Toledo Assembly Plant. This plant produces several of models including Jeep Liberty, Dodge Nitro and 2014 Jeep Cherokee.
In 2011, FCA invested about $500m in the Toledo North Plant and added about 260,000 ft2 to the body shop and upgraded all other areas of the assembly plant. And in 2013, the company announced 1,100 jobs at the Toledo plant.
On the other hand, The Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois will receive an investment of $350m for the production of Jeep Cherokee. The current production of Jeep Cherokee will be moved from Toledo, Ohio to Belvidere facility in 2017.
FCA US is confident that, at the Belvidere facility, about 300 jobs will be created. The facility was constructed in 1964-65 where Plymouth and Dodge two-door and four-door models and station wagons and the Chrysler Town & Country station wagons were first produced.
The plant employs about 4500 people and is spread over an area of 280 acres. At present, the facility produces Dodge Dart, Jeep Compass and Patriot models. According to FCA, the production of these models will end in September 2016 and December 2016, respectively.
With the fresh investment, the total amount of investment made by the automaker is about $6.8bn and claims to have created more than 23,500 jobs since 2009.
