2001 Chrysler Voyager and Dodge Grand Caravan Minivans Roll Off Line
3 October 2000
The First, All-New 2001 Chrysler Voyager and 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan Minivans Roll Off the Assembly Line at DaimlerChrysler Corporation's St. Louis South Assembly Plant * DCC invests $280 million in St. Louis South Assembly Plant for minivan
launch
* Family of three generations at the plant drives the first fourth
generation vehicles off the production line
FENTON, Mo., Oct. 2 The first all-new, customer-level 2001
Chrysler Voyager and 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan minivans rolled off the final
assembly line today at DaimlerChrysler Corporation's St. Louis South Assembly
Plant -- U.S. home of the minivan.
DaimlerChrysler Corporation (DCC) has invested over $280 million in new
tooling and equipment in the St. Louis South facility in order to assemble the
completely re-designed 2001 short and long-wheel base minivans. The company
was able to completely replace tooling necessary to produce the new model and
reach top, customer-level quality in only seven weeks -- a benchmark for the
facility. After a short holiday during changeover, employees have been back
at the plant for the last few weeks building pre-production prototype vehicles
to test the new equipment, learn new processes and verify top quality before
production for customers began today.
Employees and officials at the plant recognized the first two official
customer vehicles in a "job one" ceremony held today. The Shockency family,
which has three generations of family members working at the plant, drove the
first fourth-generation minivans off the production line in the plant's final
assembly area.
"When you think of minivans, you think of families, and that is especially
true for the families of people who build them," said Gary Henson,
DaimlerChrysler Executive Vice President - Manufacturing. "Today is an
important milestone for our entire minivan family, including the employees and
families in St. Louis, the minivan platform engineering team, our family of
component and powertrain plants, and our suppliers. The quality of our
all-new 2001 minivans is second to none thanks to all the hard work of the
extended minivan family."
The company's ability to work hand-in-hand with its unique Extended
Enterprise(R) enabled the manufacturing and the minivan platform teams to
achieve world class quality in prototype minivans before beginning production.
At full production, the St. Louis South facility will be able to produce
260,000 vehicles annually with 4,500 people on two eight-hour shifts.
Frank Ewasyshyn, DCC Senior Vice President of Advance Manufacturing
Engineering and General Manager of Minivan Operations joined Frank Ruzicka,
Mayor of Fenton; Dick Entenmann, DCC Vice President of Small/Large Car and
Minivan Manufacturing; Les Wolf, St. Louis South Plant Manager; Pete Cutway,
UAW International; Larry Robertson, president of UAW Local 110; Carolyn
Conway, president of the UAW Local 597; and hundreds of employees and family
members at the ceremony.
"With the flexibility to produce both short and long-wheel base minivans,
St. Louis South will be able to adjust volumes to quickly react to the demands
of our customers," said Ewasyshyn. "The investment in the facility and
upgraded equipment, combined with the hard work and dedication of our
workforce, will ensure a bright future for the men and women of St. Louis
South."
"With Chrysler and Dodge, we've been building the world's best-selling
minivans for the past 17 years," said James P. Holden, President and Chief
Executive Officer of DCC. "In addition to having the right formula from the
beginning, our success may be attributed to offering the greatest selection of
attractive, feature-filled minivans in the marketplace. For 2001, we're
taking another giant leap in the segment we created by offering sleeker
styling, enhanced powertrains, thoughtful features and, of course, even more
industry and minivan firsts."
Some of the new features include: industry-first power up and power down
liftgate; industry-first removable, power center console; power dual sliding
doors with minivan-first manual override powered by an industry-first inside-
the-door motor; industry-first power sliding door obstacle detection system
when opening and closing; minivan-first engines with over 210 horsepower,
including the new 230-horsepower 3.5-litre engine -- the most powerful in its
class; minivan-first pop-up rear cargo organizer; minivan-first three-zone
automatic temperature control system; minivan-first split rear 50/50 Easy-
Out(R) Roller Seats; adjustable pedals; and Minivan-first wireless headphones.
The company launched the all-new 2001 Chrysler Town and Country and 2001
Dodge Caravan in July at its Windsor (Ontario) Assembly Plant, and following
St. Louis South, it will launch European versions in January 2001, at its
Eurostar Assembly Plant in Graz, Austria.
DCC's St. Louis North Assembly plant, which is adjacent to the St. South
Plant, employs about 3,000 people, and produces 2001 Dodge Ram Quad Cab pickup
trucks.
DCC COMPONENT PLANTS THAT SUPPORT THE 2001 MINIVAN
Plant Location What Supplied
Ajax Trim Plant Ajax, Ontario, Canada Trim covers
Dayton Thermal Products Dayton, Ohio HVAC components
Plant
Detroit Axle Plant Detroit, Michigan Axle, Sway Bars,
Differentials
Etobicoke Casting Plant Etobicoke, Ontario, Pistons for 3.3- and
Canada 3.8-liter minivan
engines
Huntsville Electronics Huntsville, Alabama Radios; engine,
transmission and
body controllers;
and many of the
instrument clusters
Indianapolis Foundry Indianapolis, Indiana Engine Blocks
Kokomo Casting Plant Kokomo, Indiana Transmission and
transaxle cases
Kokomo Transmission Plant Kokomo, Indiana Transmissions
McGraw Glass Detroit, Michigan Windshield, backlight
and front door
glass; also,
bodyside forward and
rear quarter glass
through Donnelly
Corporation
New Castle Machining and New Castle, Indiana Front knuckle
Forge assembly and lower
control arm assembly
Sterling Stamping Plant Sterling Heights, Stampings and
Michigan assemblies
Toledo Machining Plant Toledo, Ohio Torque converters and
steering columns
Trenton Engine Plant Trenton, Michigan 3.3-liter (V-6) and
3.8 liter (V-6)
engines
Twinsburg Stamping Plant Twinsburg, Ohio Stampings and
assemblies
Warren Stamping Plant Warren, Michigan Stampings and
assemblies
