“There were certainly skeptics about us continuing to do business in the city,” said Scott R. Garberding, Chrysler’s chief of manufacturing.

Coming out of bankruptcy, the company had little cash, and less margin for error, in deciding which models to push to help it survive. “For a time, everything was on the bubble,” Mr. Garberding said.

But at Jefferson North, the company already had a new Grand Cherokee close to production, part of a $1.8 billion investment in the plant it announced in 2008. The plant also had a skilled veteran work force that would not need much training. In addition, the plant had received a city tax abatement on new machinery and equipment.

In the end, Chrysler decided that the stylish Jeep was its best bet for a hit.

Today, Jefferson North stands as the last auto assembly plant entirely within the city limits of Detroit, which once had nearly a dozen of them. General Motors also operates a car plant that is partly in Detroit and partly in the neighboring city of Hamtramck.

The Chrysler plant is one of the biggest employers in Detroit, which has a 16 percent unemployment rate. It is also one of its largest taxpayers, last year paying more than $12 million in property taxes. A third of its workers, both union and management, live in the city, the company said.

Since its bankruptcy, Chrysler has hired two full shifts of new workers, about 2,200 people, at the lower wage. Additional workers have come from the ranks of veteran employees who had been laid off.