Some Fiat Chrysler workers who may have been looking forward to a respite during the annual summer shutdown in early July are going to be disappointed this year: no shut down.
The automaker is eschewing the usual downtime at four facilities in order to fill ongoing demand for its vehicles. FCA has seen its sales increase for 61 consecutive months and the industry overall is hot right now on track to hit 17 million units.
Fiat Chrysler officials said the four assembly plants – Jefferson North in Detroit, Toledo Assembly in Toledo, Ohio, and the Saltillo Van and Toluca plants in Mexico – plus engine and transmission plants in the U.S. and Mexico will run through the summer.
The schedule for the company’s stamping plants will be determined by the needs of the assembly plants, officials said.
(Federal regulators plan to push out connected car rules early. For more, Click Here.)
Jefferson North builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango while Toledo handles the Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler. In Mexico, Saltillo Van assembles the Ram ProMaster and Toluca builds the Dodge Journey and Fiat 500.
(Click Here for details about makes drivers angry.)
On the opposite end of the spectrum, FCA’s Windsor Assembly facility, which builds the company’s minivans, has been shut down since February while it retools for the next-gen family hauler. It’s expected to crank back up at the end of this month.
(To see more about GM’s $1 billion investment in its tech center, Click Here.)
Other FCA plants will shut down as usual for either one or two weeks for retooling. The vast majority will shut down during the weeks of July 6 and 13, according to FCA. The automaker operates a total of 36 manufacturing plants in North America, including 23 in the U.S. and seven in Mexico.
In the past five or so years most major auto makers have not shut down plant production in Aug.-Sept. unless they needed to re-tool the factory. With mid-year introductions of new models it’s pretty much a full time gig now instead of in years gone by. It does compromise some of the six week Euro worker holidays however as many are use to having the month of August or Sept. off.