I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but the Chrysler 200, which is a car that is “imported from Detroit,” is supposedly imported from the faraway land of Detroit. But pretty soon it’ll be imported from another faraway land – Mexico.
Yes, Mexico, land of Frida Kahlo, hardworking 80s Nissan Sentra taxi cabs, and the Leon Trotsky Museum, will soon also be the land of the Chrysler 200, according to a report from Automotive News (emphasis mine):
A tentative labor agreement between Fiat Chrysler and the UAW would move U.S. car production to Mexico and concentrate SUV and crossover production in the U.S., Automotive News has learned.
According to sources, production of the Ram 1500 pickup would move from Warren Truck to Sterling Heights Assembly during the life of the proposed four-year contract. As a result of that move, the Chrysler 200 sedan would move from Sterling Heights Assembly to FCA’s assembly plant in Toluca, Mexico.
Ratification votes were expected to begin next week.
The Fiat 500 and Dodge Journey are produced at the Toluca plant already, but 500 production is expected to be concentrated in Poland, AN noted, and Dodge probably wants you to forget the Journey even exists, despite our best efforts.
FCA declined to comment on the AN report, probably because this sort of thing doesn’t exactly go with the previous marketing strategy.
Anyways, FCA, I have some ideas. You don’t even really have to scrap those old commercials. Just throw some new music over the Eminem. Might I suggest Manà?
Photo credit: Chrysler
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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