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.”
