Stellantis to Pause Production of Durango, Grand Cherokee Amid Slow Sales

Workers at the Detroit Assembly Complex Jefferson will be off the job for a few days.

Photo by: Stellantis

By: Christopher Smith

Oct 28, 2024 at 4:49pm ET

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A weeklong production pause at FCA's Detroit Assembly Complex—Jefferson begins on October 28.
Temporary layoffs will affect a majority of the workers at the plant.
The large plant builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango.

For at least a few days, the manufacturing facilities at FCA's large Detroit Assembly Complex—Jefferson will fall silent. Stellantis notified workers of a temporary shutdown and subsequent layoffs today, according to a report from Mopar Insiders. The shutdown will occur this week.

A communication titled "Important Notice of Layoff" was posted by Mopar Insiders, stating "There will be no scheduled production at Detroit Assembly Complex Jefferson." The dates listed are October 28 through November 1. No specific reason for the shutdown was mentioned in the communication. As of 2022, over 5,000 people were employed at the Jefferson complex, though permanent layoffs hit approximately 200 workers in September. FCA's parent company, Stellantis, provided the following statement to Motor1:

"Stellantis continues to take the necessary actions to align production with sales. This includes making production adjustments at the Detroit Assembly Complex - Jefferson. The Company will continue to monitor the situation to assess whether further action is required."

Photo by: Dodge

It's no secret that Stellantis isn't having a great year. That's especially true for the conglomerate's North American operations, which were singled out by Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares as underperforming due to a poor marketing strategy. He also called out quality problems with Ram production, and said that all brands within Stellantis—including those not based in North America—will have just a few years to show viability or be dropped.

The production pause at the Jefferson location comes as Stellantis wrestles with extremely high inventories at dealerships in North America. Some models, notably those from Alfa Romeo, have well over a year's worth of supply.

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As of October 1, Jeep Grand Cherokee sales were down 12 percent for the year at 160,939 units sold. The Durango was down 13 percent at 46,870. Dodge is currently in the process of revealing several "Last Call" models of the Hemi-powered Durango Hellcat, which bows out for 2025. Unconfirmed rumors have the Durango ending production in 2027.