Chrysler Group and Magna Steyr sign Chrysler 300C production agreement

The region already receives Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Chrysler Grand Voyager vehicles built at Magna Steyr's Graz, Austria facility.

"Since the introduction of the Chrysler 300C in markets outside of North America, the public response to the vehicles has been greater than we expected. For next year, demand from the markets is far beyond our original projections," said Dieter Zetsche, Chrysler Group President and Chief Executive Officer.

Magna Steyr will assemble the various offerings of the Chrysler 300C Touring and Sedan and the high- performance SRT-8. The vehicles will be assembled in the same facility as the Grand Cherokee and Voyager, showcasing Magna's production flexibility.

"The production launch next year at Magna Steyr will enable us to have 300Cs on the ground on the Middle East quickly to meet growing market demand from a facility that has proven its expertise in building quality vehicles for our market," said Bruce Ohms, Vice President, Director, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge, Middle East.

Chrysler's Brampton (Ontario) Assembly Plant in Canada is currently the only production location for the Chrysler 300 which was launched in the Middle East earlier this year. By adding a second production site, Chrysler Group will be able to satisfy demand from rest-of-the-world markets, while not compromising its ability to deliver more vehicles to North America, where demand is the highest. The Chrysler 300 commands 40 percent of the Canadian luxury full-size vehicle segment and more than 30 percent of the U.S. luxury full-size car segment.

Automobilproduktion Chrysler Austria, a subsidiary of the Chrysler Group, will also grow its relationship with Magna Steyr to develop and implement a joint manufacturing launch strategy, including: vehicle parts procurement and management; vehicle engineering; as well as support all vehicle distribution. Chrysler Group has manufactured 918,000 vehicles in Austria since 1992 and in conjunction with Magna Steyr since 1994.

The Chrysler 300C comes with the best-in-class power 5.7 litre HEMI® V-8. The engine features cylinder deactivation called Multi-Displacement System (MDS), providing customers with HEMI power along with competitive fuel consumption. The Chrysler 300C is the only vehicle to offer MDS as a standard feature in its V-8 engines.