- A successor to the Dakota should begin production by 2027, 16 years after the Dakota was discontinued
- The UAW pressured Stellantis to keep its commitment to the idled Belvidere, Illinois plant
- The plans come as Stellantis has cooled on EV truck production
Stellantis will move ahead with plans to build a midsize pickup truck—likely for the Ram brand—at its idled assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, in 2027.
First reported by Automotive News, and then confirmed by the UAW in a press release Wednesday, the move will return 1,500 UAW-represented workers to employment and fulfill promises made by Stellantis in a 2023 contract with the union. This will be the first Ram midsize pickup since the Dakota, a carryover model from Dodge that was discontinued in 2011, just one year after the Ram brand launched.
The Belvidere plant employed 5,000 people as recently as 2019, but was down to 1,350 employees, who were building Jeep Cherokees when it was idled in February 2023 as a result of that crossover’s discontinuation, according to Automotive News.
2009 Dodge Dakota
Restarting production at the plant was one of several points agreed to by Stellantis in its most recent contract negotiations with the UAW. The original plan was to manufacture EVs, with support from new battery plants and a drive-module assembly plant in Indiana. Last summer, the Department of Energy said it would loan Stellantis $334.8 million to fund conversion of the Belvidere plant to EV production.
But Stellantis’ enthusiasm for electric trucks has lost some charge since then. Starting under now-ousted CEO Carlos Tavares, the automaker delayed the launch of the all-electric Ram 1500 REV full-size truck, opting to bring the Ramcharger plug-in hybrid to market first.
More recently, it also cancelled a larger-battery version of the REV good for a claimed 500 miles of range and, according to Automotive News, executives became increasingly concerned about how the new Trump administration would affect EV plans.
Factory worker assembles a Jeep in Belvidere, Illinois
Stellantis reportedly showed a midsize electric truck concept to dealers in 2023, but it’s never been shown publicly. And last summer, the automaker indicated that it might walk back plans to build a midsize truck at Belvidere on the schedule agreed to in the 2023 union contract, Automotive News notes. That triggered threats of a strike from the UAW in response.
“This victory is a testament to the power of workers standing together and holding a billion-dollar corporation accountable,” UAW president Shawn Fain said in a statement.
The midsize truck is one of four manufacturing actions confirmed by Stellantis in a memo following meetings earlier this week between chairman John Elkann and President Trump. The others are production of the next-generation Dodge Durango at Stellantis’ Detroit Assembly complex and further investments at its Toledo, Ohio, assembly plant and an engine plant in Kokomo, Indiana.
