November 4^th, 1999                                     

Grand Cherokee reaches magical two million

At a ceremony held last week at DaimlerChrysler’s Jefferson-North assembly plant in Michigan, USA, the keys to the 2,000,000^th and 2,000,001^st Jeep® Grand Cherokees built at the plant were presented to their proud owner by Robert Eaton, Chairman of DaimlerChrysler.

This unique ‘double header’ ceremony, with the 2,000,000^th and the 2,000,001^st vehicles produced at the plant, was brought about when Paul Wilk walked into the Lochmoor Chrysler/Plymouth/Jeep dealership in September and ordered two Patriot Blue Grand Cherokee Limited models for his company, Crown Mortgage Inc.

Eaton spoke of the success of the award-winning Grand Cherokee and the role the Jefferson-North plant has played in the revitalisation of Detroit, Michigan.

He told the assembled workers: "The Grand Cherokee has earned its place as the flagship of a brand famous throughout the world for style, capability and excellence."

Since the new Grand Cherokee model was introduced in 1999, it has won over twenty-five major awards including North American Truck of the Year and Peterson’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road 4x4 of the Year.

Eaton then presented Mr. Wilk and his business partner, Dan Fell, with the keys to their Grand Cherokees.

Wilk personally thanked the assembled employees for the excellent job they had done in producing his three previous Jeep vehicles: "I have thoroughly enjoyed all my Grand Cherokees," said Mr Wilk.

"You, and all the people of Detroit, should be proud of the workmanship that you have put into each and every one of them. I was thrilled to learn our two new Grand Cherokees are milestone vehicles."

Production of the first Grand Cherokee began in early 1992 following the former Chrysler Corporation’s $1 billion investment in this new inner-city plant.

This investment, the largest in Detroit’s history, was in contradiction to the auto industry’s trend to build new plants in rural communities.

Spurred by the success of the Jefferson-North assembly plant, DaimlerChrysler invested an additional five billion dollars in its Detroit plants. This included an additional $750 million at Jefferson-North when the all-new 1999 Grand Cherokees were introduced.

The Jefferson-North plant presently employs 4,807 people. The 2.6 million square foot plant, working on three shifts, produces 1,336 Jeep Grand Cherokees daily.

Right-hand drive versions of the Grand Cherokee are built in Graz, Austria.