Stellantis NV said Wednesday it's investing $406 million across three Michigan plants as it gears up to add more electric vehicles and hybrids to its lineups.

The maker of Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram said the investments are happening at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, and the Dundee Engine Plant, and that some of the upgrades are already complete.

A rough outline of the investments was already known following last year's contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers, but the details and amounts were not.

The largest investment is at Sterling Heights, where the company is spending $235.5 million as it prepares to start building the Ram 1500 REV and the Ram 1500 Ramcharger pickups alongside existing gas-powered versions of the truck.

The REV, to launch late this year, will be the company's first fully electric vehicle built in the United States. The Ramcharger is an extended-range vehicle, which runs on a battery but is paired with an onboard gas generator.

The plant has already finished electric vehicle installations during recent down weeks. Among the upgrades are a new conveyor system, new automation processes, and retooling and rearrangement of workstations to be able to produce all three vehicles on one assembly line.

“Sterling Heights Assembly has performed an incredible transformation in record time and I want to thank our colleagues for this great achievement,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement. “Gearing up to build our first-ever Ram electric truck and the range-extended version in Michigan is a meaningful moment of pride for our teams."

At Warren Truck, Stellantis said it plans to invest $97.6 million for production of a "future electrified Jeep Wagoneer, one of four Jeep EVs that will be launched globally by the brand before the end of 2025." The plant already builds gas-powered versions of the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large SUVs.

In its contract with the union, the company committed to produce both range-extended and electric versions of the SUV, with range-extended coming next year and EV in 2027. The automaker said Tuesday the electrified versions of the SUVs will be built on the same assembly line as gas-powered models.

Despite the new investments and product commitments, Warren Truck is still expected to cut a shift in assembly and lay off a large number of workers early next month because the plant will no longer build the Ram Classic pickup, which is being discontinued. The company warned the layoff could affect as many as 2,450 workers but would likely be less. The union has estimated the cut will affect closer to 1,600 employees.

Eric Graham, the president of UAW Local 140, which represents workers at Warren, said he doesn't expect the investments and additions of electrified versions of the Wagoneer will be enough to add back a second shift at the plant. He noted the Wagoneer is a high-end vehicle that doesn't sell in large numbers, and adding new electric versions of it is unlikely to change that. Graham and other local UAW officials have been campaigning for Stellantis to add a different, new product to the plant to maintain its current staffing levels.

"The company is continuously assessing market demand when determining production volumes and would evaluate various options as needed to increase capacity," Stellantis spokesperson Ann Marie Fortunate said in response to a question about Warren Truck.

The final Stellantis investment is at the Dundee Engine Plant, where the company said it will spend $73 million for retooling so the factory can produce battery trays for the automaker's STLA Frame vehicle platforms. The upgrades will also allow the plant to machine the front and rear beams for the STLA Large platforms. Production will start this year, and in 2026, respectively.

Those new components will be built alongside the GME-T4 engine, launching later this year, and the new 1.6-liter, inline four-cylinder turbocharged engine, which has direct fuel injection and flexibility for hybrids, which is set to launch in 2025.

Stellantis said the Michigan investments are part of its larger Dare Forward 2030 plan, which aims to invest about $55 billion (50 billion euro) this decade as it targets a 100% EV passenger car sales mix in Europe, and 50% EV passenger car and light-duty truck mix in the United States, by 2030.

©2024 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.