Chrysler's Recovery Continues, Plans to Add Up to 500 Jobs at Belvidere Assembly Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The tide has certainly turned for the Chrysler Group LLC (Auburn Hills, Michigan). Teetering on the brink of extinction only two and a half years ago, the automaker has stormed back, thanks to a timely bankruptcy and the intervention of Fiat SpA (PINK:FIATY) (Turin, Italy). Today's Chrysler barely resembles the Chrysler of 2009, an automaker struggling to survive and seeking any help it could get. The introduction of a line of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles will begin this year for the automaker, the first of which will be the Dodge Dart, resurrected by Fiat and scheduled to be produced at the Chrysler's assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois. To incorporate this new line of vehicle into its production operations, Chrysler has announced it will bring in up to 500 additional workers at the facility in the coming weeks, which will bring total employment back to more than 3,000 employees.

The Belvidere assembly plant currently operates two shifts, and there are no plans to add a third at this time. The additional workers will fill in holes in the existing two shifts. The automaker is not discounting the possibility of adding a third shift in the near future should demand for the Dart prove to be larger than expected. Chrysler has invested heavily in this assembly plant in recent years, and the plant arguably is the flagship plant of the Chrysler production operation.

Chrysler invested $600 million on a massive expansion project in Belvidere in 2010, a project that was completed only months ago. This project involved the addition of a 680,000-square-foot body shop to the 4 million-square-foot assembly plant, as well as the addition of key pieces of necessary equipment throughout the rest of the facility. The project began construction work in the summer of 2010 and was completed a little more than a year later. The facility is currently producing two Jeep models, the Compass and Patriot. The plant ceased production of the Dodge Caliber last year to make room for the Dart in 2012.

Production of the Dart, based on a Fiat small-car design, will begin shortly, as the Dart is scheduled to hit sales floors during the second quarter of this year. Fiat is attempting to break back into the North American markets with its smaller vehicle designs and will use Dodge's facilities to assemble these vehicles in the future. Fiat has been absent from North America for close to 30 years and is itching to get back into the North American markets. Fiat's designs and technologies have a very good chance of taking off in North America in 2012, as oil and gas prices have helped to shift buyers' focus from larger vehicles to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles--a shift that every automaker is attempting to capitalize on in the coming months.

The future of Chrysler looks to be bright thanks to Fiat and the complete reorganization that the automaker undertook as part of its bankruptcy proceedings in 2009. Costs have been cut, and the entire operation has been streamlined. All of these changes have moved Chrysler back into contention as one of the best automakers in the world. Hopefully the Dart will prove to be the next positive step for the automaker on its road to total recovery, something that could occur this year. Other smaller vehicles will certainly be introduced in the near future, and Chrysler is betting that it can enter this market--one it has never really been a part of throughout its history--and be a smashing success, at least enough of a success for its major competitors to take the automaker seriously once again.

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