BUSINESS MEMO: TO EXPAND TRUCK PLANT

DaimlerChrysler Corp. plans a $435 million modernization and expansion program at its Fenton truck plant, which produces the Dodge Ram Quad Cab pickup.

The project includes an all-new $317 million body shop and a $118 million color spray booth in the paint shop. Plans call for an additional 311,000 square feet to be added to the body shop, which will feature new manufacturing processes designed to improve flexibility, productivity and quality, DaimlerChrysler said.

The color spray booth will be the second in operation in the plant's paint shop, and will increase volume, the company said.

Production of the Dodge Ram Quad Cab, the first extended cab full-size pickup with four doors, started at St. Louis-North at the beginning of the 1998 model year. Sales of the Quad Cab version of the Dodge Ram now account for 65 percent of the model mix, and are up seven percent during the 1999 calendar year.

The Fenton plant here was built in 1966.