*(Via USA Today) – The company may be called Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, but by early next year, it won’t be making automobiles in the U.S.
Instead, Fiat Chrysler’s U.S. plants will be focusing entirely on pickups and SUVs for the Ram and Jeep brands.
Fiat Chrysler is winding down production of the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart and will primarily produce Jeep SUVs and Ram pickups in the U.S. The company’s remaining car models will be made in Mexico, Canada or other foreign nations.
Ending passenger car production in the U.S. is part of CEO Sergio Marchionne’s multibillion-dollar plan to increase profit margins to match competitors. It’s a bet that recognizes the growing popularity of SUVs in America, low gas prices and lower cost of producing vehicles in Mexico.
“By the time we finish with this, hopefully, all of our production assets in the United States — if you exclude Canada and Mexico from the fold — all those U.S. plants will be producing either Jeeps or Ram,” Marchionne said Wednesday during a conference call with Wall Street analysts after the automaker reported second-quarter earnings.
The Jeep and Ram brands have been driving sales gains recently, with the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200, highly touted when they were launched, have been disappointments.
“There will be no passenger cars that will be produced in the U.S., and therefore, our expectation is that concentration will give us the possibility to get very close” to the 12.1% profit margin that General Motors reported as part of its second-quarter earnings last week.
Get the FULL story at USA Today.
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