C body plant to close

sixpkrt said:
I'd take one of these over any plug in....

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I couldn't agree with you more. I'll be keeping mine until it's absolutely necessary.
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CBODY67 said:
The issue I see is that, with long-time one-brand car dealerships which bring in another brand to sell . . . knowing the dealership only has a total amount of resources . . . that same amount of money must be spread over TWO+ brands rather than the prior ONE brand. Which means less for each brand, as a result. Which also means that profits from both brands will go to help build-up the new brand as the orig brand is sought to be maintained.

To me, the once-proud (and profitable!) Chrysler Group is now part of a larger family in Stellantis. A family of many brands which now has a cash-producer to help fund their other brands, I suspect. Yes, Stellantis allegedly has new EV tech which Chrysler allegedly could not afford on its own, but much of that has yet to be seen.

In this era of the automotive industry, a prevailing orientation is that COMBINATIONS of brands (and their prior companies) is necessary for survival. Which CAN reduce the glow of the individual entity as the glow of the combination increases a bit.

ONE asset which the Chrysler Group brought to the tables was "brands which made money, and lots of it", which made it a target for other, larger entities who were short on cash, at the time. I personally wonder how well Chrysler could have grown in prominence if Daimler had not courted Chrysler in the first place? Even if they had increased their stock dividend a bit to appease Kirk Kerkorian (and his buddy former-Chairman Lee Iacocca) as Chrysler's largest, single stockholder.
Then, my long-time theory is that Bob Eaton did not want Chairman Lee to be back in power, so he courted Daimler to merge with Chrysler in order to shut down that possibility. At a time when Daimler was "cash poor" and had many engineering issues/problems.

In the long run, the "merger of equals" resulted in "The Chrysler-ization of Daimler" rather than what the first appearances of "Daimler takeover" tended to be. It freed-up two Daimler guys to come to Chrysler and be like "Kids in the Candy Store" as they ran Chrysler themselves. Then, when his boss retired, Dr. Z went to Daimler and took a Chrysler SRT8 as his company, chauffer-driven car.

As other former Chrysler super-stars jumped ship to GM when Lutz ended up there. Not to forget Mr. Gilles who now is a very elevated Stallantis product person. With all of that stellar talent, Chrysler could have been great, provided that prior trajectories had been maintained and better-orchestrated/refined.

Being a long-time Chrysler enthusiast, it would have been great to see that happen, as Ford and GM plodded along in their typical fashion, by comparison. Continuing the great product/sales/profit momentum which began when the first round-body Ram fell from the ceiling in Cobo Hall at the new car show in the earlier 1990s. A time when EACH new vehicle introduction resulted in the Chrysler's stock price doubling each time! Those were GREAT times when Chrysler was on an acknowledged roll!! LOTS of smiles on my face, back then, too!!

Chrysler knew that their economic times would not last forever, so they had money socked-away to fund a few generations of new models. Money which Kerkorian wanted a piece of and wanted his good friend Chairman Lee back in power so stock dividends could be increased, even if that might compromise Chrysler's future a bit. From what I read in a few books on the subject, back then.

The interesting part of Iacocca's first book, circa early 1990s, was that he felt that in order to grow, Chrysler needed a global presence (larger than what it was back then) and a European partner. The interesting part of this is that he mentioned FIAT as that best-choice partner. Not for their lackluster products, but for their international distribution network.

When that happened, post-bankruptcy filing, the intelligent Fiat organization let Chrysler re-become the Chrysler it had been during the LH car era. With then-rising star Ralph Gilles leading the way in the area of products and such. Which resulted in the de-Daimlerized Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger getting a suspension retuning which brought back the energetic "Chrysler Feel" that had been numbed-down by Daimler operatives (as it appeared to me). Losing that "appliance feel" that had crept into the chassis, by observation. As the chassis dynamics were very good, just that they did not feel athletic to drive, as in the past, to me.

Yet, under Stallantis and Fiat, the Chrysler Group has and is producing some of their best-ever vehicles, which is fantastic. I just wish they were their own PentaStar, again. As we continue to cherish and glorify the products from A Prior Version of Chrysler Corporation.

Sorry for the length. Happy Holidays!
CBODY67
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I for one am very happy of my 2014 Fiat Freemont AWD 3.6L Pentastar, for the most part has been trouble free (apart for electronic glitches). Rebadged Dodge Journey. It got some changes for the European market - better suspension, steering, and brakes. For the price point, nothing could beat it.
 
That's unfortunate, many employees of New Process Gear transferred there. I could have gone but chose to stay in powertrain and went to Kokomo, IN. ICE vehicles are not totally going away in ours, our children's or grandchildren's lifetimes but electric vehicles are here and growing in the market. Personally, for reasons mentioned, I don't think I'd go full electric but will definitely look at hybrids the next time a buy a new car. My nephew has a hybrid Pacifica and loves it.
 
metaldad said:
fca did redesign the 2023 grand cherokee.
bought 1 for momma last month.
its got a longer nose, wider stance, than our 2019
and, its a 2 row, built in deetriot

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I'm glad your wife likes her redesigned Grand Cherokee made in Detroit, Michigan!
Unfortunately, that does not help the workers and economy of Belvidere, Illinois, where the smaller Cherokee was not redesigned and instead the plant was shut down. As the original poster indicated, this is a difficult moment for those of us whose C-bodies were produced at the Belvidere plant. I'm sure it's more difficult for workers who are being laid off for a year or transferred.
 
JC68vert300 said:
Stellantis announced it will be idling Bellvidere Assembly by Feb. 2023 For a period of no less tha a year. The Belvidere. Il plant was opened in 1965 to build C bodies: Dodge Polara, Chrysler Town and Country wagons, Plymouth Furys. The plant is on 280 acres and is 5.3 million sq ft.
Jeep Cherokee is currently built there. Stellantis explanation is Covid supply chain issues, slow demand for ICE vehicles and the cost of changing production to all electric. But the replacement for the Jeep Cherokee (electric?) would be built at the Toluca , Mexico facility. Hopefully they will repurpose this plant.
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its a sad time
 
My dad and father in law retired from there

I live 5 miles away

Sad

The first car a white Fury I sits in the local museum as does one of Belvideres other makes the Eldridge produced by the National Sewing Machine Co

It was a huge complex

My great grandpa worked there

Not much left except a few buildings including an Ace hardware

The last portion to close was the foundry within the last 35 years

Don’t know who owned it then
 
IF you want something brand new, past a certain date (variable depending upon which state you might live in and which brand you might choose), then EVs will be it. YET there will still be plenty of used ICE vehicles in the pipeline for years past that, all things considered.

All is NOT gloom and doom, considering the 0-60 timres of many EVs, even the heavy Hummer EV, with a 1/4 mile ET of 12.31 @105mph and the F-150 Lightning Pro doing 13.58 @ 102.4mph ("TFL Truck" video on YouTube). I suspect you can bet the Stellantis/Dodge vehicles will be in that mix, too.

BUT until we get the necessary infrastructure in, equivalent to current petrol vendors, the EVs will be more "town" than "country", by observation. That includes any upgrades to personal residential infrastructure, too. Of which Tesla is a licensed educator for home installations.

Guess we're gonna miss that distinctive "Highland Park Hummingbird" Chrysler starter sound? Replaced by "tire chirps" upon takeoff?

Happy Holidays!
CBODY67
 
It's always sad when an automotive plant is closed, no matter the brand. Kind of expensive to re-purpose the real estate, I suspect, considering all of the parts that made it work.

All local taxing entities take a huge hit, too! Not just lost sales tax revenues from the former workers spending money, but the related property taxes from the entity. Lots of "multiplier effects" involved.

The OTHER side of the deal is that that particular model was probably near the end of its lifecycle, so it was being discontinued in the near future anyway. Not unlike the much-ballyhooed leavings of the Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger/Dodge Challenger models, plus the Gen III Hemi engines.

To me, the reality of the issue might be "Who would want to go serious off-roading in an electric vehicle?" Where might the back-up batteries be stored, for example? Although such things DO exist already. BTAIM

Now, on the other hand, the GMC Hummer EV GM Product Training video illustrates "Extract Mode" on that vehicle, where the body raises on the suspension, to clear obstacles that might hinder movement or trap the vehicle between them. But then, I remember the words of a customer about 4-wheel drive . . . "It only gets you about 50' farther than you ought to have been anyway." In the off-road realm of things rather than when it can be needed on snow-covered roadways and such.

Hoping some good uses come from that Belvidere location in the near future!\

CBODY67
 
Were all Furys manufactured at Belvidere, or did they come from multiple locations like some of the other Mopars of that era? I've failed miserably so far at figuring out where my '68 was built, the buildsheet is long gone.
 
My 68 fury 3 383hp 4 speed car came from there fastop pp1 red white and black interior a/c car no power steering no power brakes
 
Blusmbl said:
Were all Furys manufactured at Belvidere, or did they come from multiple locations like some of the other Mopars of that era? I've failed miserably so far at figuring out where my '68 was built, the buildsheet is long gone.
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The plant is in your VIN, seventh digit, just after the year.
 
Ford closed the huge Talbotville plant near me in 2011, but it wasn't fully torn down, land remediated and then sold until last year. It had 2.6 million sq ft on 635 acres. There is now an Amazon warehouse there. That's where Ford had consolidated production of the Town Car, Grand Marquis and Crown Vic.

"The plant closed on September 15, 2011. The last Crown Victoria built by the remaining 300 employees was sent to Saudi Arabia."

"An initial proposal to have the site developed as a solar farm fell through when regulatory approval was not obtained" - in the age of climate-change-mania, go figure.
 
Just think of all the green jobs that solar farm will create....
Someone will have to cut the grass and weed wack around the posts. Someone else will need to Windex the solar panels from all the bird poo.
Maybe they'll bring in some cats too, to scare away roosting pigeons. :realcrazy:
 
Plymouth man said:
Guess we all will be buying a electric vehicle if they quit selling gas
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And then what will they do with all the leftover gasoline? Refining process produces gasoline. We(humans) still need refined petroleum products. Battery powered container ships and airplanes are completely impractical. Fact remains for the foreseeable future that diesel fuel is what powers and makes your whole world possible, all of it, from what you want to what you need, no matter how many threats the government wants you to believe about banning petroleum this or that.
You will never get the left coast and New England to be nuclear powered electric generation plant friendly. That really is the only way you can supply all the future electric demands. Otherwise it is oil and natural gas that will provide the bulk of our electric which is back to gasoline as a by-product.
 
In researching Chrysler-Mexico RAM 700 fwd pickup trucks, I ended uo reading an article on them at www.moparinsiders.com. Neat little truck!

In further looking around on that website, it talked about the next-gen Charger/Challenger cars, including that they would be built in the USA. Moving from Canada to an existing plant . . . which was suspected to be Belvidere, IL. As Belvidere was the only currently/recently operating plant in the USA. SO . . . . all might not be quite so bad as suspected?

Happy Holidays!
CBODY67
 
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