The international automaker Stellantis has a plan to revive its operations — and a key part of this strategy will launch from an assembly plant that, just three years ago, was told it may never make another vehicle again.
Belvidere Assembly Plant was idled in 2023 and became a focal point of contract negotiations between the UAW and Stellantis. The automaker committed to reopening the plant — first saying it would launch a midsize Ram truck from the plant and later pivoting to promise the Jeep Cherokee's return to the plant in 2027. On Friday, Aug. 14, Stellantis officially delayed the plant's opening once more, but in doing so said Belvidere would serve an important role in Stellantis' goal to overhaul company operations.
The automaker said that
Belvidere would be the launchpad for the "STLA One" (pronounced "Stella One") global vehicle platform — a piece of automotive engineering that Stellantis hopes will help float the company into profit and global success.
The first vehicle in the Stellantis portfolio to use STLA One (Stellantis hopes to eventually make 30-plus vehicles on the platform) will be the next-generation Jeep Cherokee, built in Belvidere, when the plant finally opens in 2028. Belvidere employees have been laid off (receiving unemployment pay and health care, still) since 2023, when Stellantis put the Cherokee on ice, reviving it two years later, but building it in Mexico.
Now, according to the automaker, once the current Jeep Cherokee runs its course, the next generation of the SUV will be built in Belvidere on the STLA One platform, making it the first product on the new, scalable vehicle architecture that Stellantis hopes will eventually serve as the basis for millions of vehicles and, by virtue, billions of dollars.
What is STLA One?
At the center of Stellantis' plans to revive operations and remain competitive is its new, scalable platform called STLA One.
A vehicle platform is the foundation and shared components upon which different vehicles are built. Stellantis has previously used an array of platforms as the basis for its vehicles — STLA Small (with the sub-class Smart Car platform), STLA Medium, STLA Large and STLA Frame. Beginning in 2027, though, the automaker is moving to consolidate its five platforms into three, with STLA One as the basis for more than 2 million of the vehicles the company hopes to sell in the next nine years.
"STLA One is designed to grow into a mega platform supporting 30-plus models and targeting more than 2 million units by 2035," the company said in a May news release announcing the platform.
STLA One will cover B-, C- and D-segment vehicles, with B-class denoting small, mini cars and D-class meaning midsize family cars. This will cover vehicles currently built on STLA Small and Medium platforms.
Consolidating platforms, the company said, has a few benefits — all of which will allow it to compete better on the global stage.
The company claims that the new platform, which can be scaled up or down depending on the size of the vehicle, will be 20% more cost-efficient than its current platform mix. STLA One will also integrate some of the company's new computing software, developed by Silicon Valley tech start-ups, called STLA Brain and STLA Smart Cockpit.
Liam Rappleye covers Stellantis and the UAW for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Stellantis bets on long-idled Belvidere to launch this key technology
