UPDATE 1-Sales of new Ram pickup to begin by Jan 2018 -Fiat Chrysler CEO

(Adds CEO's updates for production of several FCA vehicles,
background)
By Bernie Woodall
WINDSOR, Ont., May 6 (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU)
FCAU.N FCHA.MI next-generation Ram pickup truck will go on
sale by January 2018, Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne
said on Friday.
"We will be in market by January of '18," said Marchionne of
the new version of FCA's top-selling vehicle in North America,
where it made nearly 90 percent of its first-quarter profit.
Speaking to reporters at the FCA plant in Windsor, Ontario,
Marchionne also said the company will cease production of the
Chrysler 200 midsize sedan by the end of this year or in early
2017. Previously he had said the company would stop making the
light-selling sedan, but not when.
Marchionne said FCA is still looking for a manufacturing
partner to continue to build the Chrysler 200 as well as the
compact Dodge Dart sedan.
Marchionne was at the Windsor plant to thank its 5,700
hourly and 300 white-collar workers for the launch of the 2017
Chrysler Pacifica minivan, which went into production on Feb.
29. The Pacifica takes the place of two minivans, one of which,
the Dodge Grand Caravan, is still produced. Marchionne did not
say how much longer the Dodge minivan would be made.
The underpinning architecture of the Pacifica could be used
for the next-generation Chrysler 300 large sedan, Marchionne
said, and perhaps at Windsor. The current rear-wheel drive
Chrysler 300 is made at FCA's plant in Brampton, Ontario.
"This plant and this architecture is capable of making the
300 successor, the front-wheel, all-wheel drive successor,"
Marchionne said.
Asked if the Chrysler 300 would no longer be made as a
rear-wheel drive sedan, Marchionne said "no," but that the
Windsor plant is "capable" of making the sedan. "It's not a
commitment."
He also said that FCA's plant in Belvidere, Illinois will
get production of the Jeep Cherokee SUV by the end of next year.
It is now made in Toledo, Ohio. The Belvidere plant will be
losing the Dodge Dart, which like the Chrysler 200 is
light-selling and not highly profitable, and FCA plans to stop
making it.
The Windsor plant has been making minivans since 1983.
FCA says it spent $2.6 billion to design and develop the
Pacifica, including $744 million to upgrade the Windsor plant.
Of the 14.3 million minivans sold by Chrysler and its
successor Fiat Chrysler, about 10 million were produced at
Windsor.