Chrysler to build Lancia luxury vehicles at Ontario plant
By Kristine Owram, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - Chrysler will begin building Lancia-brand luxury vehicles at its plant in Brampton, Ont., beginning in 2012, according to industry research firm AutomotiveCompass.
Production volumes will be small, with 10,000 to 15,000 units expected to be built annually, forecaster Doug Shepard told The Canadian Press. The vehicles would be based on Chrysler's 300C sedan but would sold in Europe under the Lancia brand, which is the luxury division of Chrysler's partner, Fiat.
"Just as the 300C is the flagship sedan for the Chrysler brand, so too will
it be the flagship sedan for the Lancia brand," Shepard said.
Chrysler spokeswoman Mary Gauthier said the company doesn't discuss future product plans.
Because the volume of vehicles produced is expected to be so small — only about four per cent of the Brampton plant's total capacity —
it's unlikely
it will result in any additional jobs.
"
It's not going to make
it or break
it for Chrysler or Fiat or for the (Brampton) plant either way, but I guess the best analogy is the Lancia version of the 300C at (Brampton) is the icing on the cake," Shepard said.
"
It's a measure of security at the very least for existing workers, and possibly an opportunity for a little overtime as well."
Sales volumes for the vehicle are expected to be low, since full-sized sedans don't tend to sell well in Europe.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has said he's weighing whether to manufacture Alfa Romeo-brand vehicles in Brampton, which currently builds the 300C, Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger. The plant, northwest of Toronto, is running on two shifts and has about 800 workers on layoff.
The Italian automaker took a controlling stake in Chrysler last year while the struggling company was under bankruptcy protection in the United States.
The agreement aimed to provide Chrysler with the small vehicle technology
it lacked, while Fiat would get access to the North American marketplace through Chrysler's distribution system.
The deal raised plenty of speculation about what Fiat's involvement would mean for Chrysler's Canadian operations. Marchionne spent much of his youth in Canada, attending the University of Windsor, the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.
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