FILE - In this
Tuesday, May 6, 2014, file photo, a vehicle moves past a sign outside Fiat
Chrysler Automobiles world headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. (AP)
Fiat
Chrysler said Sunday it would spend $1 billion on U.S. manufacturing, including
modernizing plants in Michigan and Ohio, in a move that’s set to add 2,000 new
jobs, Reuters reported.
According
to the company’s plan, the plant in Warren, Michigan will be made capable of
producing a pickup truck currently built in Mexico.
The
Warren plant will make the new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large SUVs. A
plant in Toledo, Ohio also will get new equipment to make a new Jeep pickup.
The
move by Fiat Chrysler follows a similar recent announcement made by a competing
auto brand.
On
Tuesday, Ford said it would cancel a $1.6 billion plant planned for Mexico and
instead invest $700 million in a Michigan assembly plant. Though CEO Mark
Fields said the decision would have gone ahead whether or not Donald Trump was
elected president, Fields also said Trump's "pro-growth policies"
gave the company's executives confidence.
The
president-elect has taken many auto manufacturers to task for Mexican
production and encouraged building more vehicles in the U.S. He tweeted at
General Motors after the Ford announcement on Tuesday, threatening a "big
border tax" for producing cars in Mexico and then selling them in the U.S.
GM pushed back on that characterization of its business model.
Sunday's
announcement by Fiat Chrysler also follows news a day earlier that the company
was recalling 100,000 mostly older trucks and SUVs to replace Takata air bag
inflators.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
