Newark Assembly was a

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automot ...

(

DaimlerChrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactur ...

from 1998-2008) factory in

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is home to the Uni ...

built in 1951 to make

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful e ...

s and later

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

s with production continuing until December 2008. A variety of Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth models were produced at this facility over the years, totaling nearly 7 million cars.

History

Chrysler bought the facility in 1938 to use as a parts depot. Construction began in January 1951 for a plant to produce tanks with the first

M48 Patton The M48 Patton is an American List of main battle tanks by generation#First generation, first-generation main battle tank (MBT) introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48. It was designed as a replacement for the M2 ...

driven to Army Ordnance on April 11, 1952. 11,703 M48s were built at the plant between opening and 1959. A five-year phase-out after the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

brought the facility and tank production to an end by 1961. The plant also produced M103 heavy tanks. The facility was used for the production of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...

and

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

automobiles starting in 1957. By 1961, construction began on a 1.5 million square foot Plymouth plant where the Chrysler A platform was used to build Dodge and Plymouth compacts. During the 1990s, a recycling initiative was implemented to reduce the factory's environmental impact as well as to improve the facility's reputation. This was the result of several fires and air pollution from the plant, for which the Environmental Protection Agency fined the automaker. To prepare the Newark plant for the production of the 1997 Dodge Durango, a sport utility vehicle (SUV) the company invested US$623 million that included a new training facility, production simulation building, a paint shop, as well as upgrades to the test track, a new material handling fleet, and new controls on the assembly line. On February 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced that the plant would lose one working shift in 2007, and that it would be scheduled to be shut down completely in 2009. In October 2008, the company announced that the closure would be moved up to the end of 2008 citing a slowdown in both the economy and demand for large vehicles. Production ended and the neighboring Mopar parts distribution center was also closed in 2008. On October 24, 2009, The

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 m ...

announced it had signed a deal to buy the Chrysler facility for US$24.25 million. The property is next to the university's south campus (the main campus is a 1/4-mile north and usually accessible by bus by students). Plans are to use it as a

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

site and for the future expansion of the university. The history department at the University of Delaware and the Hugh M. Morris Library used a class of graduate and undergraduate students to conduct interviews of eleven former autoworkers employed at the Newark Assembly plant. The University has decommissioned the buildings with approximately 90% of the material on the site recycled. The location was developed then for the Science, Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) campus. In 2012, Bloom Energy, makers of the Bloom Energy Server held a groundbreaking for a new manufacturing plant at the former auto assembly site. In 2014, the first tenant of a revitalized Chrysler building will be the College of Health Sciences and a health-related complex. On November 19, 2015, the Digital Infrastructure Management company SevOne announced its move to the STAR Campus

Products

Newark Assembly Facility grounds viewed from Amtrak

*1948-1959

M48 Patton tank The M48 Patton is an American first-generation main battle tank (MBT) introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48. It was designed as a replacement for the M26 Pershing, M4 Sherman, M46 and M47 Patton tanks, and wa ...

*1959–1960

M60 Patton tank The M60 is an American second-generation main battle tank (MBT). It was officially standardized as the Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105-mm Gun, M60 in March 1959. Although developed from the M48 Patton, the M60 tank series was never officially ...

, the Tank Plant closed in 1961 *1960–1964

Dodge Dart Dodge Dart is a line of automobiles marketed by Dodge from the 1959 to 1976 model years in North America, with production extended to later years in various other markets. The Dart name originally appeared on a 1956 Chrysler show car featurin ...

, Dodge Lancer,

Plymouth Valiant The Plymouth Valiant (first appearing in 1959 as simply the Valiant) is an automobile which was marketed by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation in the United States from the model years of 1960 through 1976. It was created to give ...

*1964–1971

*1974–1975

*1976–1980 Dodge Aspen, Plymouth Volare *1977–1980 Chrysler LeBaron, Dodge Diplomat *1981–1988

Dodge Aries The Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries are mid size cars introduced for model year 1981 as the first " K-cars" manufactured and marketed by the Chrysler Corporation. The Reliant and Aries were the smallest cars to have the traditional 6 passeng ...

, Plymouth Reliant (sedan and station wagon) *1982–1988 Chrysler Town and Country Wagon *1982–1995 Chrysler LeBaronThe J-body Chrysler LeBaron coupes and convertibles were produced in

St. Louis Assembly St. Louis Assembly Plant was an automobile factory owned by Ford Motor Company in Hazelwood, Missouri. It was opened in 1948 and was closed in 2006; it was idled as part of Ford's "The Way Forward" plan. The plant was demolished in 2009. Product ...

from 1987 to 1991. For 1992, production was shifted to Newark until production ended in 1993 for the coupe and 1995 for the convertible. (sedan from 1982 to 1988) *1989–1995 Dodge Spirit, Plymouth Acclaim *1992–1995 Chrysler LeBaron (coupe and convertible) *1994–1996 Chrysler Concorde, Dodge IntrepidDodge Intrepids and Chrysler Concordes were only built in Newark Assembly from 1994 to 1996. During those years, Newark was an overflow plant for Brampton Assembly. *1998–2009 Dodge Durango *2007–2009 Chrysler Aspen ::Notes:

References

External links

{{Chrysler Group LLC assembly plants Chrysler factories Former motor vehicle assembly plants Motor vehicle assembly plants in Delaware Buildings and structures in Newark, Delaware Industrial buildings completed in 1951 1951 establishments in Delaware 2008 disestablishments in Delaware

History

Products

See also

References

External links