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Stellantis, the carmaker that owns the Fiat and Chrysler brands, is planning to invest more than $5bn in the US in a deal revealed days after its chair John Elkann met Donald Trump ahead of the US president’s inauguration.
In an email to staff seen by the Financial Times, Stellantis’s head of US operations Antonio Filosa said the investments would be made at several of the company’s manufacturing plants across the country.
Elkann told Trump that Stellantis would strengthen its US manufacturing footprint, “providing stability for our great American workforce”, the email sent to the company’s US employees on Wednesday stated.
The announcement by Stellantis is likely to be the first of many US investments by carmakers as industry executives attempt to build closer ties with Trump.
The US president has threatened a global tariff war that could cause massive disruption to complex automotive supply chains at a time when long established carmakers are struggling with competition posed by newer Chinese rivals, as well as sluggish sales of electric vehicles in Europe.
Stellantis, formed through a merger between the Fiat and Peugeot groups, owns a range of brands including Alfa Romeo, Citroën and Jeep.
The company’s US plans include a $1.2bn investment in its Belvidere assembly plant in Illinois that would support 1,500 jobs, according to a statement from senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. The factory will be used to build a new mid-size pick-up truck.
Stellantis is also investing at its plant in Detroit, Michigan, that will make a new Dodge car, plus its Toledo site in Ohio that produces Jeep trucks, and its facilities at Kokomo in Indiana that manufacture vehicle engines.
Filosa said the plans “entail a multibillion-dollar investment in our people, great products, and innovative technology, all here in the US”. The total value of the investments was more than $5bn, according to people briefed on the plans.
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, welcomed the plans, saying they were part of commitments Stellantis had previously made to the trade union, but which were then reversed by former chief executive Carlos Tavares.
“This victory is a testament to the power of workers standing together and holding a billion-dollar corporation accountable,” he added.
Stellantis has developed a vehicle manufacturing platform that allows it to produce internal combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles, which people close to the company said would help it to adapt to policy changes under Trump aimed at slowing the shift away from petrol cars and trucks.
But Stellantis has a significant manufacturing presence in Canada and Mexico, which could be hit by Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on US imports from the two countries.
Some 40 per cent of Stellantis’s vehicles sold in the US are manufactured in Canada and Mexico, according to Moody’s.
A report by the credit rating agency on Tuesday said Stellantis, Volkswagen and Volvo cars were the most exposed European carmakers to potential tariffs from the Trump administration.
In the email to US employees, Stellantis said it was “focused on increasing market share and growing sales volume” in the country.
The US investment plans come more than a month after Tavares resigned from Stellantis following disagreements with the company’s board.
Stellantis issued a profit warning in September, and its shares are down 50 per cent since a peak last March, with investors yet to be convinced that it has turned a corner.
Elkann has met representatives of the Italian and French governments, as well as the European Commission, as he seeks to improve relations with crucial stakeholders.
Last month, Stellantis pledged to invest €2bn in Italy and increase car production after relations with the Italian government deteriorated under Tavares.
