*

Investment is the largest in the automaker's history

*

5,000 jobs to be added in Midwest plants

*

Belvidere plant reopening to create 3,300 jobs, produce

Jeep

models

(Adds statement from UAW president in paragraph 8)

By Nora Eckert and Nathan Gomes

Oct 14 (Reuters) - Stellantis ( STLA ) announced a $13

billion investment in the U.S. on Tuesday, a move it said will

bring five new models to the market and add 5,000 jobs in plants

across the Midwest over the next four years.

The plan, which includes some previously disclosed

investments, may help buffer Stellantis ( STLA ) from U.S. President

Donald Trump's tariffs, which the automaker has said would cost

it around $1.7 billion this year.

The investment, which Stellantis ( STLA ) CEO Antonio Filosa said is

the largest in its history, comes as the automaker works to

regain its sales momentum in one of its most important markets.

"Tariffs are getting clearer and clearer. And we believe

that tariffs will be just another variable of our business

equation that we need to be ready to manage, and we will,"

Filosa told Reuters in an interview.

U.S.-listed shares of Stellantis ( STLA ) were up about 4% in

after-hours trade.

The investment will infuse new capital into plants in

Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana. Some of the factories are

slated to receive new models, while others will have expanded

production of existing vehicles.

One of the plants at the center of the company's

announcement, a factory in Belvidere, Illinois, has been a

sticking point for the United Auto Workers union, which last

year threatened a strike against the Franco-Italian automaker.

"Their decision today proves that targeted auto tariffs

can, in fact, bring back thousands of good union jobs to the

U.S.," UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement.

The factory, which was shuttered in 2023, is reopening and

will produce two Jeep models starting in 2027, creating around

3,300 jobs, the company said.

"Filling Stellantis' ( STLA ) underutilized plants should be a

welcome announcement for UAW workers," said Sam Fiorani, vice

president at research firm AutoForecast Solutions.

Stellantis ( STLA ) leadership disclosed elements of the plan to

employees earlier this year, including some of the investments

in the Belvidere plant, and factories in Ohio and Indiana.

Tuesday's announcement pegs the investment amount and the

number of jobs that will be created, which is a larger figure

than had been previously given. The company declined to quantify

how much of the $13 billion announcement was previously laid

out.

Filosa, who became CEO in June, is tasked with turning

around the carmaker's sagging U.S. market share. Dealers

complained that the company's strategy under former CEO Carlos

Tavares left them with models that were priced too high relative

to competitors, and hurt sales.

Tavares abruptly resigned in December, and the automaker

conducted a months-long search for his successor before

appointing Filosa, an Italian national who joined the company in

1999.

Filosa is expected to unveil a new strategic plan in the

second quarter of next year, after recently delaying it from the

first quarter.