This week, Daniel Howes says Fiat Chrysler’s plans to invest $4.5 billion and create 6,500 tax-paying jobs to build a new Jeep plant in Detroit vindicates late-CEO Sergio Marchionne’s call three years ago to abandon small cars in the United States and weight the lineup more heavily to trucks and SUVs. A company controlled by Italians and run by a Briton insists that authentic Jeeps come from the industrial Midwest. It’s hard to overstate the reality and symbolism here: Detroit just landed a prize like it hasn’t in a long time.

Daniel Howes is columnist and associate business …

Daniel Howes' Weekend Essay

This week, Daniel Howes says Fiat Chrysler’s plan…