The Jeep Liberty is getting itself a replacement. In order to get ready for the production of it, however, Chrysler is making sure that the plant responsible for this new Jeep vehicle is readying. That means the plant will be going idle this month.
Starting August 16th, the Toledo North factory will be halting their production to start shipping new models in the 2013 second quarter, according to the Detroit News. Chrysler is looking to invest around $1.7 billion to give the Jeep Liberty an upgrade and give the Toledo plant the assembly complex needed to deal with the added capacity.
The full investment will provide an expansion to the plant’s body shop with $500 million. This lets the plant also install a new metrology center that verifies the measurements of the vehicles and can improve the fit and finish of components. The plant will also need to start adding more workers. There are already 2,800 employees at the plant that assemble the Jeep Wrangler and that number is expected to increase with 1,100 new workers.
Zach Leroux, the plant manager, remarked on the challenge ahead for the plant and the new Jeep Liberty’s replacement, “We have new product and a whole new shift, so our task is tall. We have a tall challenge ahead of us.”
With the Dodge Dart on the way out in mass, it’s time for Chrysler and the rest of the brands to start really putting some hype into the next products. Other updates planned are for the Grand Cherokee and a new Ram heavy-duty truck in 2013.
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