Sterling Heights addressed in Freep interview

The Detroit Free Press asked Sergio Marchionne about the future of the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, which sits on Van Dyke road a few miles north of the Warren plant, and currently makes the Sebring and Avenger. Marchionne suggested that the company could do without Sterling Heights (observers have suggested that with common platforms, any plant making C or D type vehicles could make any or all of them – from Compass-replacement to Liberty). He started to talk about the plusses and minuses, but then cut himself off and said, “The real issue is there are all a whole pile of issues that attach to Sterling Heights including the quality of the paint shop and other investments that need to be made.”

The investments needed would likely be in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, and Marchionne may not believe that the additional capacity is needed when other plants could be run on additional shifts, maximizing hardware investments.