Some interesting details emerged from the tentative UAW-Stellantis deal…
This Friday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union outlined its tentative deal with the world’s third-largest automaker. Workers still need to vote to ratify their new contract, but UAW leadership published in far greater detail the benefits on the line leading up to that vote, which should happen in the coming days. Hundreds of pages of documents go through finer points of the deal on which union voters will soon vote, including pay incraeses, attendance policies, healthcare benefits, moving allowances and retirement benefits. A highlighter document also lays out $19 billion in investment by the end of the 4-1/2 year contract, with the largest spends in the company’s assembly plants. What particularly caught our eye there was the effective roadmap of future products, including new Jeep and Ram models coming down the pipeline.
We reached out to Stellantis for more information, and company representatives declined to comment while the agreement is still undergoing the ratification vote. Automakers typically refrain from commenting on future product, so it’s unlikely we’ll get any more details until there’s an official statement.
The UAW documents also cover Jeep and Dodge’s plans for its cars over the next few years, which we covered over on TFLcar.com.
New Ram models and electrified Jeeps are on the way over the next 2 years.
When we’re talking about Stellantis’ trucks, we’re really homing in on three plants: Warren Truck Plant (which builds the Ram 1500 Classic), Sterling Heights (which builds the current DT-generation Ram 1500) and the Toledo Assembly Complex (which builds the Jeep Gladiator and Wrangler).
Let’s cover the least surprising news first: The updated Gladiator hit the scenes a couple months ago in Detroit, and an updated Ram 1500 will arrive next year — surprise, surprise. What’s far more interesting, though, is what’s coming beyond the imminent launches we already knew about. Under the Toledo Assembly highlights, the UAW documents note a “Jeep Gladiator (JT) PHEV Upgrade in 2025”. So, after years of wondering when it would arrive, it seems like we’ll finally see the Gladiator 4xe sometime in the next 18 months. The word “upgrade” is notable there, suggesting it will actually be an improvement on the current 375 horsepower/470 lb-ft powertrain you can currently get in the Wrangler.
On the engine front, it also seems the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 will stick around through 2028. So, if the electrified option doesn’t appeal, you will still be able to get a straight-gasoline Gladiator for a few years yet.
Ram’s plans through 2028
While Stellantis has continued to build the Ram 1500 Classic alongside its more modern sibling, the DS-generation truck will finally bow out in 2024. From there, it appears Warren Truck will pivot entirely toward Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer production, leaving Sterling Heights as the one facility building Ram’s half-ton trucks. (Side note: Ram builds its HD trucks in Saltillo, Mexico, which isn’t a unionized plant or part of the UAW negotiations.)
Sterling Heights will continue to build the current Ram 1500 DT over the coming months, until Ram launches the facelifted 2025 model. While it appears the Hemi V8 is going out of production, we will at least have the 3.0-liter Hurricane straight-six moving forward. The UAW documents also allude to a range-extended version of the electric Ram 1500 REV truck, as well the fully electric REV entering production at that plant next year. Both of the latter trucks will ride on the company’s “STLA Frame” platform, meant to underpin the company’s larger electrified trucks.
Another major milestone for the Ram brand in the coming years will come from the recently shuttered Belvidere plant in Illinois. The former Jeep Cherokee plant will reopen to build at least one new midsize truck — presumably the Ram Dakota or a localized version of the Ram Rampage — in 2027. The UAW says that plant will eventually ramp up to produce 80,000 to 100,000 units per year. It also mentions midsize trucks, plural, meaning we could see more than one sub-Ram 1500 truck from the plant in a few years.
We should have more direct information from Stellantis in the coming weeks and months.
