TOLEDO -- Dana on Wednesday officially opened a $75 million axle plant here that will employ 350 people building up to one million axles per year for the next-generation Jeep Wrangler and the new Jeep Scrambler pickup, as well as the planned Ford Ranger and Bronco.
The 300,000-square-foot axle plant was built on the same site where the former Willys-Overland produced millions of Jeeps and other vehicles, including the World War II-era MB, the historic predecessor of the Wrangler.
Dana has continuously supplied components to the Wrangler and its predecessors, the CJ and the MB, since Jeeps first started rolling off the line in Toledo in 1941.
The redesigned Dana 30 and Dana 44 axles used on the next-generation Wrangler are lighter and stronger than their predecessors, Dana CEO James Kamsickas said. Production at Dana to feed FCA's upcoming JL Wrangler began Monday, Kamsickas said.
Ultimately, the axle plant will feed the JL Wrangler and Jeep Scrambler pickup, built at FCA's Toledo Assembly Complex just three miles away, as well as the upcoming Ford Ranger and Bronco by 2021.
