BREAKING: Chrysler and Nissan announce major supply agreements, shared products
Filed under: Economy, Trucks/Pickups, Plants/Manufacturing, Chrysler, Nissan
Following the announcement this past January that Nissan would be supplying Chrysler with a new car based of the Versa’s platform, the two automakers announced today that more exchange is on the horizon, including a new small car for Chrysler and a Dodge-based pickup for Nissan.
The unnamed small car will be built by Nissan in Japan utilizing a Chrysler design and will be sold in North America, Europe and other markets in 2010. On the other side of the spectrum, Chrysler will build a full-size pick-up for Nissan that will share design cues with the rest of the Nissan line and be built at Chrysler’s Saltillo Assembly Plant in Mexico. Sales of the pick-up will begin in North America in 2011.
The move is part of an effort by both automakers to utilize each other’s global manufacturing facilities and finally gets Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s CEO, the American automaker partnership he’s been looking for since last year.
We’re hoping on a conference call to see if either automaker releases more information, but in the meantime check Chrysler’s press release after the jump.
UPDATE: No word on whether or not the new Nissan pick-up will use Chrysler’s hybrid drivetrain. Nissan spokespeople are not calling this a partnership, rather an “OEM exchange” and nothing more.
UPDATE 2: The Nissan pick-up will be a full-size light truck.
UPDATE 3: The Chrysler small car will be on a Nissan-developed platform and will be covered in Chrysler-designed sheetmetal. The platform will not be based of the Versa. Nissan reps couldn’t answer any questions about whether or not the small car will share any design cues from the Dodge Hornet concept.
Continue reading BREAKING: Chrysler and Nissan announce major supply agreements, shared products
Permalink | Email this | Comments