mrb321us

The Detroit News reports that Chrysler will shift production of it's diesel-engine Dodge Ram pickups from Saltillo to St. Louis North starting next summer ('05). The Mexican plant will be upgraded so it can produce multiple models on the same assembly line. Chrysler, according to the article, is investing millions to make it's assembly operations more flexible. CEO Dieter Zetsche indicates these changes are part of his primary objective for DC which is to match Toyota and Honda quality by 2007.

spudman

good now we can get our trucks in the same model year we order them.

blown32

Cool

IA_James

Sweet.

westcoaster

we are seeing some of the benefits of their hard work now, I can hardly wait to see what the trucks will be like then.....

ckennedy

I said I would keep my 04 untiil it falls apart... well maybe until the US plant is going for a few years and the trucks are looking good.... time to trade it in for a diesel... nothing else...

mikmaze

sheesh and I thought sticker prices were high now, can you imagine what they are going to go up to? or is Dodge just gonna suck up the extra cost of building them here? I don't think so.

coolslice

They better start climbing the mountain now, because they have a long, long way to go.

IA_James

I know of at least 1 other company that has "come back" from Mexico due to quality control and, shall we say, "production" problems. They CEO of a rather large valve manufacturer went into their shiny new Mexican plant on 3rd shift one night to find the entire shift sacked out on pallets. Work was also for crap, it only took a couple months after starting to ship their customers parts from Mexico and China before they started getting orders that were specifically to go to the US plant.

Hannibal

Prices going up? Do you really believe DC passed the savings on to the consumer instead of absorbing them into higher profits? Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and bush lied. Prices are set by what the market will bear. It has nothing to do with the cost of labor. It has everything to do with what people are willing to pay.
My next truck might just be another Dodge Cummins if they move production back here. I was seriously considering a Tundra or Titan to support Americans with my American money. Now maybe I won't have to.

dually drooler

hey don't ya remember NAFTA--well its SHAFTA for us! and I agree it is what ever we'll pay. "dually" was put together in March 03 and darn if it don't whistle at the senoritas around here. Peach County Gergia may start doing its utility bills in spanish on one side and "anglish" on da utter!!

coolslice

It's like that around here also. I figured that most of the Mexican fellows would like the Dodge because it is built at home but I was wrong. They love Fords! F-150's and Probes. I can't blame them if the quality is going down, I would say DC doesn't take that great of care of them. We know what happens to worker morale when a company doesn't take care of its people, quality suffers.

NJMurvin

I wonder if this is going to affect the resale value of the MIM (made in Mexico) trucks. Fender has American-made guitars and MIM versions of the same models - at significant price differences. However, this isn't a totally fair analogy because the guitars don't have all the same components and they're manufactured in both countries (not one or the other). Still, it IS a perception thing. When there isn't a choice, it doesn't matter. In a few years, when the American made trucks hit the resale market, the MIM trucks might carry a negative stigma.

Neil

coolslice

I doubt it. I really don't think is has as much to do with the build location as it does with the parts, procedures, processes, etc.. that DC uses in it's manufacturing process. If they want the product to be of higher quality, then they need to be the ones to do it. It has nothing to do w/ who builds it, they are doing the best they can w/ what they have. It's possible an American made Ram could be worse, there must be a reason to move back which somehow must involve saving $ and not improving quality.

BTW- My first guitar was a Korean Fender/ Squire Strat. It was junk, so I bought a $1300 Strat deluxe plus(Made in USA). It was junk also. Finally got a Les Paul classic, NOT junk.

Mcmopar

According to my Dodge dealer the Mexican built trucks have proven to be more reliable than the US made ones!!