DETROIT _ Michigan officials on Tuesday signed off on a $4.5 million grant for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and the automaker pledged to create 700 new jobs at a suburban Detroit plant where it plans a big investment that will see the facility transformed into a truck-building operation.
The grant, issued by the Michigan Strategic Fund, comes in addition to an $11.4 million tax break the state approved earlier this year after FCA announced its plan to invest $1.5 billion to overhaul its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant so it can produce the next-generation 2018 Ram 1500 pickup. The plant currently makes the Chrysler 200, a midsize sedan that will be discontinued in December.
The FCA project is also expected to be eligible for a variety of city and county economic incentives worth up to another $7.1 million.
Fiat Chrysler's plans in Sterling Heights are part of a broader plan affecting at least five assembly plants in North America as the production of smaller vehicles is shifted to Mexico and the building of more-profitable models, like Jeep SUVs and Ram pickups, is concentrated in the U.S.
