A spokesperson for Stellantis will not confirm a new, as-of-yet unnamed, Sport Utility Vehicle is coming to the Windsor Assembly Plant.
Lou Ann Gosselin also did not deny the possibility.
The company announced earlier this month that production of the current L-series vehicles, Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, and Dodge Challenger, will end at the Brampton Assembly Plant in 2024 when the plant retools.
"Vehicles produced on the new STLA Large platform will be built at the Windsor Assembly Plant," said the announcement. "A product announcement for Brampton will be made at a later date."
The company will transform Windsor Assembly later this year to support the production of multiple battery-electric vehicle models, with the flexibility to adjust production volumes to meet changing market demand. Retooling starts next year in Brampton.
"There has been a lot of speculation, and while we're not prepared to discuss any product details today, we're happy to confirm that Windsor will produce vehicles on our new STLA Large platform," said Stellantis North American Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart.
Gosselin said anything beyond his statement is "purely speculation."
Unifor Local 444 President David Cassidy was taken aback by a local report that a renamed AirFlow Concept would be built in Windsor.
Cassidy told WindsorNewsToday.ca Stellantis committed to new products at the Windsor plant during bargaining in 2020, but Unifor doesn't know which models.
"Prior to launches of vehicles, the company has taken us over to their styling dome -- but I can tell you, and I can 100 per cent confirm, that we have not been to the styling dome yet," he said. "It could be true -- but the company has not told us."
Cassidy anticipates some hires when the plant starts making battery-electric vehicles, although it takes fewer workers to produce those than it does gas-powered ones.
"We are still going to be building the ICE (internal combustion engine) as we're building battery-electric, so levels will be up," said Cassidy. "We are going to have three-shift operation back in the Windsor Assembly Plant and Brampton."
He also said it's not unusual for Stellantis to keep its cards close to its chest.
"If they're going to discontinue a product, they don't release it early because they don't want people to stop buying that product," explained Cassidy.
The moves are part of Stellantis's $3.6-billion investment in its Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, announced in March 2022. The company intends to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2030 and achieve net zero status by 2038. All sales in Europe will be electric vehicles and half in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the company has not said yet if it will accept the federal government's latest offer to build the NextStar EV battery plant on Banwell Road. The development in east Windsor is a major component of a manufacturing ecosystem.
At last word, Stellantis was reviewing the offer reached in early June after weeks of high-stakes negotiation. Gosselin remained impenetrable, saying only "nothing new in terms of the battery plant."
While construction continues on the battery plant, it remains halted at the module plant.