A facility at Ladson SC, just a few miles north of Charleston on the site of a subsidiary belonging to DaimlerChrysler's Freightliner LLC, will assemble the next-generation Dodge Sprinter van that will replace the current Dodge Sprinter model in early 2007. Since 2001, the Sprinter has been on sale in the United States under the Freightliner and Dodge brands.
The new Dodge Sprinter light-duty van has become even more flexible with body and engine variants meeting all requirements. It adds the safety feature of the new adaptive Electronic Stability Program (ESP), which can measure the weight of the vehicle's load, calculate the center of gravity, and adapt its responses correspondingly.
DaimlerChrysler will invest $35 million to convert the plant to van production for North American markets. Initially, 220 employees will be engaged in production when the plant produces its first van at the end of fourth quarter 2006.