Stellantis cuts shift at Illinois Jeep plant amid chip woes, affecting 1,671 jobs

Stellantis said it is chopping far more than one,600 work opportunities at its Illinois Jeep plant, a sign the deepening chip shortage that has idled vehicle crops is now doing far more long lasting harm.

The automaker shaped from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Cars and French rival PSA Team said it will reduce the 2nd shift at its Belvidere plant by July 26, impacting as a lot of as one,671 men and women. The transfer is supposed to “balance sales with production” of the Jeep Cherokee, which is built there, the enterprise said Friday in an emailed statement.

Production declines for the Jeep Cherokee SUV have been “further exacerbated by the unprecedented international microchip shortage,” Stellantis said.

Though desire for vehicles has been outstripping offer as the U.S. emerges from pandemic lockdowns and men and women opt for non-public transportation, the Cherokee hasn’t been a important beneficiary. Revenue tumbled 29 per cent previous year to 191,397 models, when deliveries at the Jeep manufacturer fell 14 per cent amid pandemic shutdowns.

The Belvidere assembly plant has been starved of chips through the disaster as Stellantis looked to ration semiconductors for its most financially rewarding vehicles. The plant has been idled in February, April and May possibly, in accordance to researcher AutoForecast Methods.

It has also been chopping output for a when: The enterprise reduce the third shift, impacting far more than one,three hundred work opportunities, in February 2019. It laid off one hundred fifty men and women at the plant in February.

Stellantis pledged in its previous 4-year deal with the UAW, reached in November 2019, not to close the manufacturing unit through the existence of the deal, and to make investments in it.