The Dart Story: Manufacturing

The 2013 Dodge Dart is proudly built in America at a state-of-the-art Chrysler facility in Belvidere, Illinois. Leveraging advanced tools and technology, the Belvedere facility is able to assemble the all-new Dodge Dart to world-class quality standards.
“This is a crucial vehicle launch for the company as we re-enter the compact sedan market, and everyone is committed to launching a high-quality product,” says Doug Betts, Senior Vice President, Quality, Chrysler Group LLC. “We’ve invested $20 million in new quality tools and processes at the Belvidere Assembly Plant to achieve the strict quality targets we set for Dodge Dart.”
These innovative techniques include the plant’s new Center for Technical Vehicle Validation (CTVV) and Materials Laboratory. The intense CTVV process tests vehicles for 437 separate functional characteristics, from emissions to fit-and-finish to air-conditioning output.  The CTVV at Belvidere is the first such program at an American Chrysler plant.
The Belvidere facility also gained a dedicated, technologically advanced metrology center, a resource first employed at Chrysler’s North Jefferson plant in Detroit. Advanced metrology allows production engineers to detect build variations far smaller than can be detected by the human eye – or even by traditional measurement techniques. The objective is an improvement in overall quality and refinement that you can see, touch, and hear.
“We obsessed over the quality and refinement of the Dodge Dart as it was developed, tested and built,” Betts says. “As a company, we’ve really overhauled our processes and expectations for building quality vehicles and doing whatever it takes to satisfy customers.”
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