Rumor: Nissan coming to SHAP?

[Corrected]

We have not verified this, but we were just told that some die makers have been recalled to the Mt. Elliott Tool and Die Shop to work on tooling for a new Nissan to be built at Sterling Heights. A derivative of the Nissan Cube was to be built in Japan for Chrysler, but plans may now call for it to be made in the United States. This may also be the upcoming Nissan Titan, which would be built in Warren or Mexico, with an error about the destination plant.

The same source wrote that Fiat was impressed with some of Chrysler’s stamping automation which “they’ve never seen before.” This includes automated guided vehicles that deliver and return steel blanks to the press lines; finished stamped panels are stored in the Automated Storage and Retrieval System until they are called for by the Body Shop. Sterling Heights reportedly has to manually move blanks and finished panels by forklift.  The source wrote that Fiat was asking how far they could expand the Stamping Plant, since Belvidere is surrounded by fields, rather than roads and buildings.

An Automotive News article noted that the Fiat representatives, unlike those from Daimler, split up immediately after entering the plant and did not go on the guided tour, instead trying to learn as much as possible about conditions in the plant. They appeared to be very serious about learning as much as they could and investigating Chrysler’s production capabilities.