Chrysler says that, effective today, it has reopened its Belvidere, Illinois, assembly plant. The factory, which produces the Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass (pictured) and Patriot, had been idled since May 1 when Chrysler shut down all of its assembly plants due to its Chapter 11 filing.
The Belvidere plant won’t stay open for very long, though, as Chrysler will shut down all of its plants for two weeks beginning the week of July 13 to retool for the 2010 model year. After that planned annual shutdown, Belvidere is expected to reopen with no plans of its closure in sight.
Chrysler began recalling workers to the plant yesterday. In May, the automaker had said it would lay off 992 of the plant’s roughly 2,600 workers, but a Chrysler spokesman told Reuters that decision “is now being reassessed.”
07/08, 9:55 AM
posted by:
slider5634
Mmmmm…. Retooling…. The air smells of new models on the way. We’ll have to see whether that new smell becomes foul or becomes alluring to those seeking a new vehicle.
07/08, 10:00 AM
posted by:
armstealer
Something tells me the info about shutting down all plants July 13 is inaccurate if they are re-opening this plant a week before. A five day production run? Sounds anything but profitable.
07/08, 10:16 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Sounds like they must have enough parts inventory to crank out a weeks worth of ’09s before moving on. You have to wonder how much different the ’10s are going to be if Marchionne has already labeled these as lame duck models. Also we know the plants were closed during the BK proceedings but what were the R&D guys up to during the same period?
07/08, 10:34 AM
posted by:
leftwingagenda
looking for jobs, probably
07/08, 10:48 AM
posted by:
KarLoveBoy88
Well it really doesnt matter because they still havent sold the cars that they have on their lots currently. I just hope Fiat can revamp Chrysler and their bland line up and bring the excitement that they once gave to Americans in the glory days
07/08, 11:10 AM
posted by:
JakeK66
KarLoveBoy88 – hwo will they do that? Wasn’t Fiat the one who brought us their own excitement in the past? They won’t bring us “American” excitement, but European variety. I’m okay with that – I’d go out and buy an Alfa Spyder today, but I think many on here won’t be too happy.
07/08, 11:29 AM
posted by:
carstuff
KarLove, where do you get your data? I found that Chrysler had a 85 day supply at the end of May. As a comparison Honda had 70 day and GM 90.
Chrysler did not build any vehicles in June/start of July so they are now way down in days supply probably under 60 which is below optimum for Chrysler (that would be the old Chrysler with too many dealers, perhaps 60 is right for the number of dealers they have now?)
“As one example, the chart below shows the inventory reduction for all major OEMs over last few months, measured in days’ supply for the Detroit 3 companies and Toyota and Honda from December 2008 to May 2009. Despite its anticipated inventory sale in May and June, Chrysler was able to reduce days’ supply in May to 85, down from 150 in January”
Now Fiat has to show some restraint and keep the supply down.
https://www.alg.com/FreeRVRNewsletterTest
07/08, 12:05 PM
posted by:
reedfast
So they’re recalling the workers to the plants, now? I thought that they only did that
with their defective cars. How are the workers defective? Bad headlights , leaky tanks,
explosive exhaust?
07/08, 1:55 PM
posted by:
slider5634
^ roflcopter
07/08, 9:04 PM
posted by:
Bimmer
Who buys those ugly lame ducks anyway? My lunch box has better plastic then Calibers interior.
07/09, 1:00 AM
posted by:
zoomzoomer
According to the local news here in Los Angeles, the plant will reopen for 3-5 days to “train employees on the new processes necessary to assemble a new Fiat model to be produced there.” I don’t know how accurate that is.. but the thought of an American-built Fiat 500 is interesting!
07/09, 7:58 AM
posted by:
carstuff
what a laugh. I really doubt that the entire plant has been retooled in 3 weeks to buiild a whole new vehicle w/o anyone knowing it. Shows us how smart the media is.