Automaker Stellantis is expanding its factory in Saltillo, Coahuila, a top company executive confirmed this week.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Reuters event in Detroit on Tuesday, Chrysler and Ram Brand CEO Christine Feuell said that the Mexico plant expansion is going ahead as a “relief valve” for a Stellantis truck factory in the United States that is expected to reach capacity in the future.
She didn’t say how much Stellantis was investing in the expansion in Coahuila, where the company’s plant has been making trucks since 1995.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported last week that it had seen satellite images that “show that two roughly half-kilometer-long buildings have been constructed in the past several months” next to Stellantis’ existing plant in Saltillo.
Asked why the company wasn’t increasing capacity in the U.S., and whether the decision to expand the plant in Saltillo was an effort to reduce spending in light of a new agreement with the United Auto Workers union, Feuell said that the motivation was not to cut costs.
“The plant in Saltillo does a really good job managing the complexity and they’re already building pickup trucks down there,” the CEO said.
Reuters reported that “the future home of the Ram 1500 truck, which is currently built at Sterling Heights assembly near Detroit, is under question given the Mexico expansion.”
The WSJ reported Oct. 15 that Stellantis is taking steps to build the Ram 1500, its bestselling truck, in Mexico. Feuell declined to confirm or deny that report.
The automaker’s final decision could hinge on who wins the Nov. 5 presidential election in the United States.
Former U.S. president and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump has threatened to impose a hefty tariff on all vehicles manufactured in Mexico if he returns to the White House next January.
Such a move would go against provisions in the USMCA, but Trump has said he will renegotiate the North American trade pact in 2026 if he wins a second term as president.
With reports from Reuters
