FCA’s Sterling Heights Investment to Include Test Track

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV plans to add a test track to its Sterling Heights, Mich., assembly plant, The Detroit News reports.

The $5.8 million track is part of the $1.5 billion investment the carmaker is making to retool the Michigan facility to produce the next-generation Ram 1500 pickup truck. FCA announced that investment in July but didn’t mention anything about the test track at the time.

The test track and other details about the overall investment are included in documents The News obtained ahead of tonight’s scheduled public hearing and vote on tax abatements related to the project by the Sterling Heights City Council. The city’s commitment includes a $23 million, 12-year property tax abatement, according to the report.

FCA’s $1.5 billion investment at the 5 million-sq-ft Sterling Heights site includes $940 million for machinery, equipment and other “personal property,” $72 million in land and building improvements and $42 million to overhaul the existing paint shop. Another $25 million will be divided between improvements to the final chassis trim operations, frame unloading area, truck docks, new body shop and upgrades to drum storage and trestle upgrades for the paint and body area, according to the report.

The Sterling Heights facility will stop building the slow-selling Chrysler 200 compact sedan by year-end. The new Ram 1500 will launch in its place in early 2018.

FCA’s nearby Warren, Mich., facility, which builds the current Ram 1500, will switch to the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee and Grand Wagoneer when they are introduced. Some observers question if these products will fully utilize the 3.3 million-sq-ft plant’s production capacity.