Yahoo Autos Illinois wants Ram to build the 1500 REV in the idled Belvidere plant
The electric Ram 1500 REV is scheduled to reach showrooms as a 2025 model. We already know a lot about it, but one detail that hasn't been confirmed is where it will be built. Illinois officials reportedly asked the firm to use the Belvidere plant that Stellantis idled earlier in 2023.
What's nearly certain is that production will take place somewhere in the United States. Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares confirmed this on the sidelines of the 2023 New York auto show. He added that the location will be announced "soon," and anonymous sources told industry trade journal Automotive News that Illinois officials are trying to convince the CEO and his team to pick the Belvidere plant whose future remains unclear. The plant was idled in February 2023 after the last Jeep Cherokee rolled off the line, and it hasn't been assigned a new product.
State officials can pull a number of levers to convince companies to build cars within their boundaries; some fast-track permit applications (this is particularly common for new factories), while others promise big tax incentives (Tesla may get $330 million in tax breaks over the next two decades for expanding the plant that it operates on the outskirts of Reno, Nevada). It sounds like Illinois is taking the latter route.
"I've heard it's an astronomical amount of money. I'd be shocked if they turn it down. But, I think [that] at the end of the day, if they don't accept it, in my mind, that tells me they don't want to do business in Illinois," UAW Local 1268 President Kevin Logan told Automotive News.
