DETROIT -- Chrysler will cut in half the mid-sized 200 sedan's 2014 model year to make room for a redesigned version scheduled to arrive in January.
Internal Chrysler documents indicate that the 2014 Chrysler 200 will start production in July at Chrysler's Sterling Heights plant in suburban Detroit and end in the second week of January. Normally, production of the 2014 model would run well into 2014.
It is unclear from the documents whether the 200's line mate, the Dodge Avenger, will also have a short 2014 model year.
A Chrysler spokesman declined to comment on future product plans. But Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said this year that introduction of the next-generation 200 had been delayed until January.
Chrysler is spending more than $1 billion to build paint and body shops for the Sterling Heights plant. The projects, announced in December 2010 and October 2011, will add a 1 million-square-foot body shop and a 425,000-square foot paint shop to the plant. Construction is expected to finish this year.
