Stellantis-UAW agreement brings new midsize truck to Illinois

UAW’s deal with Stellantis revealed a critical piece of the company’s pickup strategy: a new midsize truck will be built in the USA. The automaker committed to building a new midsize gas-powered truck at the Belvidere, Illinois facility, which was previously scheduled to be shuttered. Stellantis employees, which include workers at Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and others, will also see notable pay increases, among other benefits.

Ram CEO Mike Koval Jr. told Autoblog last year that the brand was “actively and aggressively” looking at trucks smaller than the current Ram 1500 to expand the company’s profitable pickup portfolio. Since then, a new small Ram pickup truck has been caught testing in the United States, hinting at what could be the smaller sibling to the full-size 1500. As of right now, we have little information regarding Ram’s production timeline.

General Motors is the last automaker to reach an agreement with the UAW to end the weeks-long strike crippling domestic vehicle manufacturing. The union is ratcheting up the pressure in hopes of bringing the company to the bargaining table with some real concessions, escalating the strike on GM with a worker walkout at the Spring Hill, Tennessee plant.

Almost 4,000 workers at GM’s largest North American facility walked off the job on Saturday, not long after news broke that Stellantis had struck a deal with the UAW. The strike, now edging on 50 days, had already cost the Detroit Three billions in lost productivity and will likely impact the supply of popular models. Some expect GM to shutter production operations completely, as the Spring Hill facility plays an integral role in supplying engines and other components to several other manufacturing locations.

Union leaders voted to endorse the tentative contract with Ford, which will bring more significant pay increases to workers than have been seen in more than 20 years.

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