Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), the Chrysler parent, is expanding its factory complex in northern Mexico to build Ram 1500 pickup trucks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Stellantis has been building additional factory space next to its existing plant in Saltillo, Mexico, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Two roughly half-kilometer-long (0.31-mile-long) buildings have been constructed in the past several months, according to satellite images reviewed by the newspaper.
Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) said it has been making other variants of the Ram pickup trucks in Mexico and that no other announcements have been made about the production of the Ram 1500.
In a statement, the French-Italian automaker said it recently disclosed plans to invest more than $235 million at the Sterling Heights assembly plant in Michigan to build future electric versions of the pickup.
Stellantis will continue to make Ram trucks at its Michigan plant, it said.
It isn’t clear if the planned factory space in Saltillo would be used to make battery- or gas-powered versions of Ram trucks, the WSJ report said.
The report on Mexico plans comes as the United Auto Workers union is eying multiple U.S. strikes against Stellantis, alleging it had failed to keep the commitments it made in last year’s contract signed after a six-week strike that cost it about 750 million euros ($816.90 million) in profit.
In August, Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) announced plans to lay off as many as 2,450 factory workers from its Warren Truck assembly plant outside of Detroit after ending production of the Ram 1500 Classic truck.
($1 = 0.9181 euros)
(Source: Reuters)
Mary Lee is a freelance writer and journalist based in Toronto, Canada. She holds an M.S. degree in business and economic journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York and a certificate in digital marketing from the University of Toronto.
