Chrysler Corporation Breaks Ground at New Toledo Jeep(R) Assembly Plant

23 July 1998
Chrysler Corporation Breaks Ground at New Toledo Jeep(R) Assembly Plant
    TOLEDO, Ohio, July 22 -- Chrysler Corporation
officially broke ground today on its new 1.1-million square-foot manufacturing
facility in the City of Toledo.  The new plant, adjacent to Chrysler's current
manufacturing facilities on Stickney Avenue on Toledo's north side, will
produce Jeep(R) sport-utility vehicles for sale worldwide beginning in 2001.
    The project represents an estimated $1.2 billion total investment and
includes more than $600 million for an assembly facility, machinery and
equipment at the new Stickney site.  It also includes refurbishment of an
existing 290,000 square-foot building on the current Stickney Avenue site, an
improved paint shop at the current Jeep Parkway location, and various other
improvements at the Parkway facility.
    "Our major consideration in selecting a site was to have a new
manufacturing facility that would allow us to retain our current outstanding
Toledo workforce," said Robert J. Eaton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
Chrysler Corporation.  "They'll soon have a new home for producing some of the
best sport-utility vehicles in the world.
    "When you think about the number of manufacturing facilities in urban
areas that are sitting idle or permanently closed, coupled with the number of
large companies moving out of cities, it's clear that we're embarking on an
extraordinary project," said Eaton.  "We couldn't have done it without our key
partners -- Governor George V. Voinovich, Mayor Carelton S. Finkbeiner, the
Toledo City Council, the local UAW and all the employees at Toledo Jeep
Assembly."
    Construction of the new plant begins August 1, and is scheduled to be
completed in the fourth quarter of 1999.  Following tooling and equipment set-
up and verification, pilot production begins later in 2000, with Jeep sport-
utility vehicles from the plant to begin sales worldwide in 2001.
    Visit Chrysler's Media Relations Web Site at http://www.media.chrysler.com
for additional Chrysler news.