FCA to move manufacturing from Mexico to Michigan

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has announced that, in 2020, it will shift production of Ram Heavy Duty pickup trucks from its Saltilo plant in Mexico to Warren Michigan (near Detroit) where the automaker will invest U$1bn in the facility.

The move lowers the risk to FCA's profit should the United States pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, something that would involve a 25% duty on all pickups being imported to the US from Mexico.

Once the Mexican plant halts production of the pickups, the facility will be used to build a new commercial vehicle for the international market, FCA Mexico spokesperson Miguel Ceballos said without defining the name of the vehicle, automobile news portal Autoblog reported.

According to data from the Mexican government, Chrysler raised its output in Mexico by 39% last year to 639,000 vehicles, making FCA the third-largest producer of vehicles in Mexico in 2017, after Nissan and General Motors.

Currently, approximately 90% of the Ram pickups made at the Saltillo plant are sold in the United States or Canada.