JEEP WRANGLER’S TOLEDO FUTURE
Collins, Kasich speak with Chrysler CEO Marchionne
Face-to-face meeting is next step in talks
BY TOM TROY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins and Ohio Gov. John Kasich had a conference call Sunday with the head of Chrysler Group LLC over the potential for future Wrangler production to be moved out of Toledo, the mayor’s office announced.
Mr. Collins, Mr. Kasich, and Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Chrysler as well as of its parent organization, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, talked early Sunday.
According to Mr. Collins’ spokesman, “The purpose of this call was for the mayor and governor to gain clarity on Mr. Marchionne’s comments last week regarding the possibility of the next generation of Jeep Wrangler being built at a location other than the Toledo North Assembly Plant.”
Spokesman Stacy Weber said no commitments were made.
“However, all parties agreed to open a direct dialogue on overcoming the issues associated with the assembly of the next generation of the Jeep Wrangler in Toledo,” the statement said.
A face-to-face meeting is the next step.
According to the statement, “the mayor and the governor are confident that the issues facing Toledo as the assembly point of the new Wrangler can be overcome.
“The increase in the market demand for the Wrangler can be attributed to the leadership of Mr. Marchionne and his team. Just as significant to the ability to meet this demand is the highly skilled work force and the community that have committed themselves to Chrysler. This is not the first time that the community has been faced with these types of challenges and the city and its partners will again rise to the occasion to ensure that the new Wrangler is made in Toledo,” the statement concluded.
Mr. Collins sent Mr. Marchionne a letter Thursday asking for a meeting, and the three Lucas County commissioners also sent a letter to the CEO Friday asking for a face-to-face meeting.
Mr. Marchionne caught the local community by surprise when he told reporters at the Paris Auto Show on Thursday that the next Wrangler — due out in 2017 — would likely require an aluminum body to improve fuel efficiency, and that Toledo would not be able to accommodate the new aluminum construction.
“If the solution is aluminum, then I think unfortunately that Toledo is the wrong place, the wrong setup to try and build a Wrangler, because it requires a complete reconfiguring of the assets that would be cost-prohibitive,” Mr. Marchionne told trade publication Automotive News. “It would be so outrageously expensive that it would be impossible to try and work out of that facility.”
Jeep’s owners have changed several times over the decades, but the workers have been building the vehicles here for more than 70 years. Except for a short period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the CJ-series and Wrangler have always been built in Toledo. The first Jeeps were built in Toledo in 1941 for the military. The first civilian models were built in 1945.
Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.
Read more at
http://www.toledoblade.com/Automotive/2014/10/06/Collins-Kasich-speak-with-Chrysler-CEO-Marchionne.html#KPqvvH7Ro4crjFZr.99
