Chrysler won't build Maserati SUV in Detroit as Jeep sales soar

Detroit Free Press - Chrysler will not build a Maserati SUV called the Levante in Detroit, partly because the Jeep Grand Cherokee's robust sales are keeping workers at the Jefferson North assembly plant busy.

Fiat, which owns most of Chrysler and all of Maserati, wants to make the Levante at its Mirafiori plant in Turin in order to keep more Italian workers employed, according to a report in Automotive News.

"Due to the high demand for the Grand Cherokee, we reallocated the product to Italy," Maserati CEO Harald Wester said last month at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Chrysler added about 1,000 workers at Jefferson North in October to make more Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durangos. In 2012, Grand Cherokee's global sales rose 26% to 223,000.

"It means that the SUV is extremely well accepted not only here in the U.S ... but also outside of the U.S.," said Gualberto Ranieri, senior vice president of communications for Chrysler.

Still, the Levante is one of three models that Maserati is counting on as it aims to grow global sales from 6,300 in 2012 to 50,000 by 2015.

In 2012, when Chrysler and Fiat unveiled a concept version of a Maserati SUV at the Detroit auto show, CEO Sergio Marchionne said the company's UAW's workers were capable of building a prestigious luxury vehicle.

The SUV will be built from the same underpinnings as the Jeep Grand Cherokee, but its engine will come from Ferrari.

Fiat's restructuring plan hinges on the company's plan to build more Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Jeep models at plants in Italy and export them to the U.S. and other global markets.

The plan is designed to prevent the closing of Fiat's plants in Italy, which are now running at less than half their capacity.

Over the next four years, Fiat plans to introduce six new Alfa Romeo models here as the brand returns to the U.S. for the first time since 1995. There will also be eight new Fiat models, to be assembled in Italy, that will be sold in the U.S., too.

Marchionne's goal is to export more vehicles from Europe, where automotive industry sales are expected to decline in 2013 for the sixth year in a row.

On Feb. 7, Marchionne told investors that investing in new models and exporting them is a better option than closing plants.

It would take six years for Fiat to see the cost savings from closing additional plants in Italy, the company said in a presentation posted on its website earlier this month.

Closing a plant with 5,000 employees would cost Fiat about $670 million, according to the presentation.

"In the case of Fiat ... we would have (been) relegated to being a minor player in the European market," Marchionne said. "We're going to focus on Alfa Romeo and Maserati to access the higher end of what we consider to be a permanently bipolar market now."