According to reporting by the Windsor Star, the Windsor assembly plant could be the production home for the new Chrysler Airflow.
Stellantis did not confirm the production location, but as per Chrysler CEO Chris Feuell, Windsor is definitely on the list, according to reporting by the Windsor Star.
The Windsor assembly plant has a strong business case to bring the Airflow to its plant. The plant is already producing an EV in the Chrysler Pacific Hybrid. Furthermore, it is one of the only Stellantis plants in North America assembling EVs.
As noted by Autoline host John McElroy, the Windsor plant and workforce already have experience working with electric motors, batteries, and the tricky installation that it takes to put them together. If Chrysler wants Airflow’s rolling off the line every 60 seconds, they will need a familiar workforce with EVs. This is already the case for the Windsor plant.
Another interesting wrinkle that could benefit the Windsor plant is that Chrysler sees the Airflow and electrification as a chance to retool and rebrand. The company wants to get their house in order in North America and expand to Europe.
The Windsor plant helps Chrysler because EU tariffs on Canadian produced vehicles will be phased out over seven years under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
There is no such agreement with the US.
Finally, and what could be the most important thing is that the Windsor assembly plant has capacity. The plant produced 105,549 minivans in 2021. However, when the plant was at capacity and had three shifts working, it could produce 400,000 vehicles annually.
