Stellantis halts Ram 1500, Pacifica output in U.S. and Canada

The ongoing chip shortage has forced Stellantis to halt Ram 1500 production this week at its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Michigan.

The Sterling Heights facility, which employs 7,068 and operates on three shifts, will be down for one week. The plant also had downtime in July.

Sterling Heights is just one of several Stellantis sites cutting production.

The Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois, which builds the Jeep Cherokee, and the Windsor Assembly Plant in Ontario, which handles the Pacifica and Voyager minivans, are down the weeks of Aug. 30 and Sept. 6.

The Brampton Assembly Plant in Ontario, which assembles the Dodge Challenger, Charger and Chrysler 300, is down this week.

"Stellantis continues to work closely with our suppliers to mitigate the manufacturing impacts caused by the various supply chain issues facing our industry," the company said in a statement Monday.

The Windsor site was also down the weeks of Aug. 16 and 23 for its regularly scheduled summer shutdown. Stellantis resumed regular output in Windsor on July 5, after the plant sat idle nearly every day since March 29. The plant resumed operation the week of May 31, but not at full capacity.

Even though Windsor resumed a two-shift operation on July 5, the automaker warned at the time that “scheduling is still released on a week-to-week basis.”

About 4,500 people, the majority of them Unifor members, build the Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid and Chrysler Grand Caravan in Canada, as well as the Chrysler Voyager for the U.S. market.

“This chip issue has been a disaster; very frustrating,” Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy said in a post on the chapter’s official Facebook page.

According to the latest estimate from AutoForecast Solutions (AFS), the microchip shortage has cost automakers 2.1 million units of production in North America alone, through the week of Aug. 23.

AFS says automakers have seen nearly seven million vehicles trimmed from global production plans due to the shortage and the firm now expects them to lose 8.1 million units of production before the crisis ends.

Stellantis is just the latest automaker to cancel production because of the chip shortage.

Ford last week said its Kansas City Assembly Plant in Missouri, as well as the Oakville Assembly Plant in Ontario, will be down the week of Aug. 30. Ford's Dearborn Truck Plant in Michigan will operate just one shift that week.

The F-150 is produced at the Kansas City and Dearborn factories. The Oakville plant produces the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers.