BREAKING: A huge announcement is planned for the Windsor assembly plant tomorrow!

According to Windsor Star, Stellantis Chief Operating Officer for North America, Mark Stewart will be in Windsor, Ontario tomorrow and is expected to make important announcements about the future of the Windsor assembly plant. He is expected to be joined by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

On Friday, we discussed Stellantis’ decision to extend the Windsor Assembly Plant’s second shift. Stellantis announced last October that it planned to scrap the factory’s second shift in April, due to global shortages of semiconductors and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was reassessed in February, with the announcement that the company would extend the second shift until the end of June. But his latest decision calls for the second shift to work until at least the end of December.

In October, Stellantis and LG Energy Solutions (LGES) announced that the two companies had entered into a memorandum of understanding to form a new joint venture to produce battery cells and modules for the North American market. In March, Stellantis and LGES unveiled details of investing more than C$5 billion (US$4.1 billion) to establish operations, which include a brand new battery manufacturing plant located in Windsor. Plant construction activities are expected to begin later this year, with production operations expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

The plant aims to have an annual production capacity of over 45 gigawatt hours (GWh) and will create approximately 2,500 new jobs in Windsor and surrounding areas. Each of the municipal, provincial and federal levels of the Canadian government is committed to fully supporting the proper functioning of the joint venture.

Many believe tomorrow’s announcement will actually be an official announcement about the future of electrified vehicles that will be produced at the factory in 2024. This could include a future crossover based on recent Chrysler Airflow Concept vehicles, codenamed internally (CA), which is expected to be produced in 2024 as a 2025 model according to sources close to MoparInsiders.

During his Unifor-FCA Collective Agreement 2020, then Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) committed to installing new multi-energy vehicle architecture, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and battery electric vehicle (BEV) capability, and at least one new model on this architecture at its Windsor Assembly Plant. The investment was worth up to C$1.5 billion (approximately US$1.16 billion). Stellantis told the Unifor union that it plans to return to a three-shift operating schedule once production of electric vehicles begins.

Chrysler will also begin building its next-generation minivan on the STLA Large architecture sometime before 2028. This vehicle is expected to be fully battery-electric, as Chrysler has announced that it will become the first Chrysler Group brand to go 100% electric. before the end of the decade.