• New paint shop begins to take shape
• Work progresses inside on the new body shop and general assembly

August 13, 2019,  Detroit – FCA marked a milestone today as it raised the first piece of steel for the nearly 800,000-square-foot paint shop being built on the site of the former Mack Avenue Engine Complex. The Company announced in February that it would invest $1.6 billion to convert the two existing Mack facilities into a new assembly site for an all-new, three-row, full-size Jeep® SUV and the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee, creating 3,850 new jobs.

As construction on the new paint shop starts from the ground up, crews are working to renovate and transform the two existing facilities. Mack II, which has been idle since 2012, will become the new body shop, where the frame of the vehicle is welded together. Mack I, which until June was producing the Pentstar engine family, will be repurposed and retooled as general assembly, where the vehicle gets its seats, instrument panel and wheels, among other things.

The first vehicles are expected to roll off the line by the end of 2020. When complete, the facility will be the first new assembly plant built in the city of Detroit in nearly 30 years.