Located on East Jefferson Avenue 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Downtown Detroit, near Grosse Pointe Park, the factory opened in 1991 as a major commitment to the city of Detroit by Chrysler, and was expanded in 1999, bringing its area to 2,700,000 sq ft (250,000 m2) and expanded again in 2011, bringing its total to 3,000,000 sq ft (280,000 m2).

It uses the original site of the former multi-story Chrysler Kercheval Body Plant, a noted Detroit landmark for a series of large advertising signs on the roof,[3] plus the Hudson Motor Company location that was originally built during the 1940s as a storage lot for newly manufactured vehicles to the east of the facility.

[5] Improvements in the plant occurred during a period of intense corporate turmoil for the parent company.

[8] In August 2013, the Jefferson North Assembly Plant produced its 5,000,000th vehicle since it first made the 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ in 1992.

[9] In May 2015, Fiat Chrysler announced that an employee had been killed at Jefferson North's wastewater treatment plant.

In addition to Imperials, various other models from Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge, and Plymouth were eventually assembled here.

The Jefferson Avenue Assembly was approximately three miles east of the Dodge Main factory in nearby Hamtramck, the Packard Automotive Plant which was across the street from the Dodge Factory, and the Plymouth Lynch Road Assembly in Detroit.