• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • The Rearview Mirror: Tailfins Take Flight
  • TikTok Reveals the Hottest EVs in the Industry
  • Millions of Older Hyundai, Kia Owners May Face Trouble Getting Car Insurance
  • Bugatti Chiron Profilée Sets New Auction Sales Record
  • Another Delay for VinFast Customers
  • Ford Making Return to Formula One for 2026 Season
  • Ford CEO Farley “Frustrated” by $2 Billion Loss for 2022
  • Hyundai Ioniq 6 Achieves EPA-Estimated 361-Mile Range
  • Nissan’s Virtual EV Convertible, the Max-Out Reappears in Sheet Metal Form
  • Honda Launching Hydrogen-Powered CR-V in 2024
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
      • Feeder
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2023 Lexus GX 460 Black Line
    • A Week With: 2023 BMW X1 xDrive28i
    • A Week With: 2023 Kia Niro EV
    • A Week With: 2023 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy
    • A Week With: 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R 4x4 Super Crew
    • A Week With: 2023 Genesis Electrified G80 AWD
    • A Week With: 2023 Land Rover Defender 110 V-8
    • First Drive: 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport
    • A Week With: 2023 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe
    • A Week With: 2023 GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automobiles > FCA Set to Wind Down Passenger Car Production

        FCA Set to Wind Down Passenger Car Production

        Trucks Moving in at two current sedan plants.

        Paul A. Eisenstein
        Paul A. Eisenstein , Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
        May 09, 2016
        The Jeep Crew Chief concept reveals some "hints" of a production Jeep pickup to come.

        With pickups, utility vehicles and vans now capturing about 60% of the U.S. market, automakers are struggling to shift production to match consumer demand, in some cases dropping once-popular passenger car models and refitting plants to produce light truck lines.

        Nowhere is that shift becoming more apparent than at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. At least two of the maker’s sedans will soon head off to the junkyard, making room for expanded production of updated and possibly all-new pickups and SUVs.

        Stay on Top!

        At least two plants will be impacted by the shift at the trans-Atlantic automaker, including one in Belvidere, Illinois and another in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights where 3,000 workers have been on temporary layoff due to slow sales of the Chrysler 200 since early this year. Nearly half will be put on indefinite layoff in July, likely for as much as two years.

        They do have some reason for hope, however. The 200 sedan – once pitched during the Super Bowl in a widely hailed, two-minute commercial featuring rapper Eminem – will end production sometime late this year or early in 2017. But a new version of the popular Ram pickup will take its place at the Sterling Heights plant and “will be in market by January of 2018, FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said Friday.

        A new version of the Dodge Ram will shift production to the Sterling Heights plant.

        (Click Here for a review of the all-new 2017 Honda Ridgeline.)

        That move is part of a broader reshuffling of the FCA product line-up, one that will see a sharp reduction in the number of passenger car models, even as the maker expands its truck line-up.

        The Ram pickup currently is assembled at FCA’s plant in another Detroit suburb. With the shift, the Warren assembly line will “embrace the new architecture for the Grand Cherokee and the Grand Wagoneer,” according to Marchionne.

        The Jeep Grand Cherokee is currently the brand’s largest and most expensive SUV. But plans call for the return of the Jeep Wagoneer nameplate, a vehicle that will move the marque up in several ways. It will become both the brand’s largest and most expensive offering, taking aim not only at full-size domestic offerings but also the likes of importer Land Rover.

        (FCA announces deal with Google, looks for more partners. Click Here for the latest.)

        The original Grand Wagoneer was a massive, wagon-like vehicle, in many versions covered with acres of faux wood. The new version will feature more modern styling and a platform shared with the popular Grand Cherokee. It also will help FCA nudge into the growing market for luxury SUVs where it only barely competes today.

        The Chrysler 200 will be dropped later this year.

        “When I see a Range Rover on the street, my blood boils, because we should be able to do a thing like that,” Marchionne said last year when he confirmed the long-rumored return of the Wagoneer. “And we will.”

        Jeep has other plans, including a replacement for the current Compass and Patriot twins. The new model was originally set to debut at the New York Auto Show in March but will instead be unveiled soon in Brazil. As part of an ambitious global expansion program, FCA is adding numerous Jeep production facilities around the world, including the Brazilian line, as well as plants in Italy, China and elsewhere.

        Also on tap: a long-awaited Jeep pickup. The maker offered a hint of what could be in the works when it revealed the Jeep Crew Chief Concept ahead of its annual Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. What’s known is that the four-door model will be based off the same platform as the next-generation Wrangler.

        “We’ve hidden some hints about what’s going on behind the scenes, right in front of you,” Jeep Chief Designer Mark Allen said during a media background session. “There may be things you see on the Crew Chief that you might see on that truck.”

        An all-new version of the Jeep Wrangler itself is in the late stages of development and will go into production in late 2017 at a plant in Toledo, Ohio. That factory will be retrofit with the help of a major incentive program from the state that convinced FCA not to move production elsewhere.

        (Strong truck demand pushes US sales to record levels. Click Here for the story.)

        The maker is, in fact, so confident it can boost sales of the Wrangler and Wrangler-based pickup that it has decided to pull another product out of Toledo and move it to a factory in Belvidere. That’s good news for the 4,200 workers in Illinois whose jobs also have been threatened by the shift away from passenger cars.

        By late 2017, they will be producing a new Jeep model. While FCA officials won’t confirm what’s coming, it’s expected to be the mid-range Jeep Cherokee that will be squeezed out of the Toledo plant.

        Still more changes could come as FCA tries to rebalance its model mix. An all-new version of the maker’s Town & Country minivan line has launched at a plant in Windsor, Ontario. Rechristened the Pacifica, Fiat Chrysler hopes it can bring family buyers back into the once popular people-mover market. A replacement for the Dodge Caravan is also expected.

        The new minivan shares the same platform as the next-generation Chrysler 300 sedan, meanwhile, and there is some talk that it could also move into the Windsor plant. But FCA officials aren’t yet talking about that model.

        What’s clear is that, going forward, trucks will be the dominant focus for FCA.

        How to Care for Your Car

        Cheap Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice

        Best Extended Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice
        Recently Published

        The Rearview Mirror: Tailfins Take Flight

        Yesterday
        2021 Porsche Taycan - charging

        TikTok Reveals the Hottest EVs in the Industry

        Feb. 03, 2023
        2018 Hyundai Sonata front

        Millions of Older Hyundai, Kia Owners May Face Trouble Getting Car Insurance

        Feb. 03, 2023

        3 responses to “FCA Set to Wind Down Passenger Car Production”

        1. JAE says:
          May 9, 2016 at 4:28 pm

          Very short-sighted – this is dangerous for FCA, unless Marchionne is purposely moving “C” to be off-road capable on-road truck-only products with “F” being the car line.

          Just because you’re capable of doing / being something doesn’t mean you should. I am capable of being a dog-catcher but joining he pooper-scooper brigade wouldn’t work out well. A Chrysler at a Range Rover price point would be an unacceptable joke, such as VW with its Phaeton and many others before it.

          Reply
        2. Mike says:
          May 14, 2016 at 12:33 pm

          Some automobile purists have been waiting for this since 1972.

          Reply
          1. Nikko says:
            May 16, 2016 at 2:38 pm

            Name some.

            Reply

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2023
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: