Chrysler Group’s Windsor minivan plant is poised to grab a share of funds that Canada’s federal government has pledged to keep auto plants running there.
A budget approved last week by federal lawmakers in Ottawa included more than $500 million Canadian in incentive money.
The funds become available as Chrysler negotiates with officials in Ottawa and Ontario for incentives to upgrade the Windsor plant. Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said the planned investment in the plant exceeds $2 billion Canadian.
During the 2014 NAIAS in Detroit, Marchionne said the design for the next-generation Town & Country was 95 percent complete. He also said that the company would decide before March whether to press ahead with a renovation of the Windsor plant.
The company plans to overhaul the plant to build a redesigned Chrysler minivan and a Dodge vehicle that won’t be a minivan, according to Marchionne. The Windsor plant receives high scores in the automaker’s World Class Manufacturing system.
The Windsor plant needs improvements to its body and paint shops. Chrysler also wants to install a metrology center, in which workers carefully measure the fit and finish of each process on the assembly line to improve quality. The upgrades could enable the plant to eventually build a wider range of products.
