New vehicles from Detroit’s automakers are planned in contracts that ended UAW strikes
DETROIT — Stellantis plans to build a new midsize pickup truck, along with battery-run versions of six Jeep, Ram and Dodge vehicles.
Ford envisions at least three new electric vehicles that will preserve jobs at several factories.
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General Motors plans to build at least six new electric vehicles, including a full-size SUV.
Those and other closely held production plans by Detroit’s automakers have emerged in details of the tentative contract agreements that ended the six-week strikes by the United Auto Workers union.
Under the new agreements, the three companies will significantly boost pay and benefits and improve job security. But the agreements also provide a blueprint for which cars and trucks they intend to build in the coming years and where they will do so. Many of the plans will continue the manufacture of vehicles that the automakers already build. But the production of some new vehicles over the next few years is being planned, too.
About 146,000 union members will vote on the contracts in the next two weeks. Workers at 10 Ford facilities who have already voted have overwhelmingly favored the agreements, which will be in effect through April 2028.
The UAW’s success in gaining commitments from the companies to build new electric vehicles at several factories represented a particular achievement. The expansion of EV production will preserve jobs and could create new ones, depending on how fast the nation transitions from gas engines to batteries.
The automakers have all embraced the transition to electric vehicles as a large-scale and long-term commitment. The companies have set goals of having EVs represent roughly half their U.S. sales by 2030. Adopting the same goal, the Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act increased federal tax credits to buyers of new and used EVs.
What’s not yet known is whether consumer demand for EVs in the coming years will justify the automakers’ plans to accelerate their production. In the meantime, the companies are moving ahead with their ambitious EV production plans.
In Belvidere, Illinois, according to the union, Stellantis will construct an EV battery factory that would create 1,300 jobs. And at its Toledo Assembly Complex, Stellantis plans to build a battery-electric version of the rugged Jeep Wrangler SUV and another with an unknown new powertrain.
In addition, the union said, the company plans to build battery electric versions of the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large SUVs at a plant in Warren, Michigan. The Ram REV battery-electric truck is expected to be built starting next year at the plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
And at the Detroit Assembly Complex, Stellantis plans to build the next generation of the Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV. Both are to have fully electric versions.
Ford, according to contract highlights released by the UAW, has agreed to $8.1 billion in new investments at its factories during the contract, including for at least three new electric vehicles. A new electric truck will be built in an EV plant inside Ford’s Rouge complex in its hometown of Dearborn, Michigan.
