Ontario gives $85 million to Fiat-Chrysler for Windsor expansion: sources

The Ontario government will provide more than $85 million to Fiat Chrysler for an expansion of the automaker's minivan assembly plant in Windsor, The Canadian Press has learned.

Sources said the provincial investment will create about 1,200 new jobs and help secure the 4,000 existing positions at the Windsor plant, where the new Pacifica minivan is being produced.

The sources said the funds will be used to upgrade the assembly plant and to help finance a project at the Fiat Chrysler Automotive Research and Development Centre in Windsor.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is expected to make the grant announcement at Chrysler in Windsor Wednesday, before crossing into Detroit to meet with Ford Motor Company executive vice president Joseph Hinrichs and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

The eight-passenger Chrysler Pacifica minivan produced in Windsor will be available in two plug-in hybrid electric models that the sources said align with the government's goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles withdrew a request for $700 million in provincial and federal funding in 2014 after former Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak urged the government not to give in to the automaker's "ransom" demand.