DetNews: Toledo Plant Being Build. Will house the new M80 and Razor?

[hemidakota]

Isn't the Razor/M80 sharing the same platform as with the upcoming Jeep Varsity?

Steve
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Wednesday, August 4, 2004


DaimlerChrysler, suppliers team up

They'll invest $900 million in Toledo factory to make Jeep Wranglers, Liberty sport-utes

Detroit News staff and wire reports

TOLEDO — DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group and several auto suppliers will invest $900 million in a new Toledo, Ohio, factory to produce new versions of the Jeep Wrangler and Liberty sport utility vehicles.

The project is part of a $2.1 billion consolidation and renovation of Chrysler’s Toledo operations and will include a new assembly plant and expansion of the current Toledo North factory, where the Liberty is now built.

When the expansion is completed, Chrysler will have the flexibility to build two additional models on the site.

The new plant, to be located next to the existing factory, will house three suppliers who will build and paint car bodies and assemble chassis. The suppliers are spending about $300 million on the project.

Chrysler, battling back to profitability, is leaning more heavily on suppliers to help defray the cost and risk of developing and building new models.

Chrysler said the investment by suppliers will help it save enough money to develop one additional models.

Members of the United Auto Workers union agreed in December to an eight-year labor contract that allows suppliers to assume assembly operations in Toledo.

“This project keeps approximately 3,800 jobs in Toledo and enables us to implement new ways to become competitive in a rapidly changing time for our industry,” said Lloyd Mahaffey, head of the UAW’s Toledo region.

With the investment, the Toledo site “has the ability to handle four vehicles,” said Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler’s executive vice president of manufacturing. He declined to say if the automaker is committed to building models beyond the new Wrangler and Liberty models, which are slated to debut in 2006.

Karlsruhe, Germany, supplier Kuka Group will assemble vehicle bodies and Durr Industries, a unit of Stuttgart, Germany-based Durr AG, will build and operate the paint shop. Seoul, South Korea-based Hyundai Mobis will build chassis.

“We had an old body shop, we had an old paint shop that was obsolete” in the Toledo plant, said Tom LaSorda, Chrysler’s chief operating officer. By having suppliers perform such tasks, “we could save over $300 million” and use the money to develop the new models, he said.

Employees hired by the three suppliers will be approached by the UAW about joining the union, Chrysler spokeswoman Mary Beth Halprin said.

Chrysler is introducing new and redesigned models in an effort to end five years of U.S. market-share losses.

In the first half of 2004, Chrysler raised its U.S. share to 13.5 percent from 13.4 percent a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp. The company earned $982 million in the first half and expects a profit for the year.

The plant expansion project is still subject to negotiations over economic incentives, training funds and infrastructure improvements with government officials.