• E-coat tank bathes vehicle bodies in corrosion-protecting coating
• Six sections form 115 ft. long tank
• Fully assembled, tank holds 120,000 gallons of solution and weighs nearly 77 tons

October 2, 2019 , Auburn Hills, Mich. – As steel continues to be raised for FCA’s new assembly plant under construction on the east side of Detroit, the first piece of process equipment for the paint shop began arriving on site on Oct. 1, 2019.

Flatbed trucks, accompanied by escort vehicles due to the oversized loads, delivered the first two of six sections that will form the E-coat dip tank. Weighing about 30,000 lbs. or 17 tons each, the three bottoms and three tops will be married together to create the 115 ft. long tank.

E-coat is the first application in the paint shop after the raw metal vehicle body has been cleaned and treated. It provides the important protective coating that prevents corrosion and ensures a beautiful, long-lasting paint finish. About 50 vehicles an hour will be bathed in more than 120,000 gallons of the E-coat solution in the new paint shop being built to support production of an all-new three-row, full-size Jeep® SUV and next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee. The first vehicles are expected to roll off line of the new plant by the end of 2020.

In February, FCA announced a $1.6 billion investment to build the first new assembly plant in Detroit in nearly 30 years, bringing 3,850 new jobs to the city.