Jeep Cherokee’s Future in the Balance at Reports of Plant Closure

• Stellantis will indefinitely idle its plant in Belvidere, Illinois, in which the Jeep Cherokee is designed, as 1st reported by Automotive Information.
• The company cites various explanations for the plant closure, like the COVID-19 pandemic and relevant supply-chain shortages.
• There will be a limited operate of 2023 Cherokees, but the transfer indicates the SUV’s position in the Jeep lineup could both be vacant immediately after this design yr or output could go to yet another place.

UPDATE 12/10/2022: In an interview with Reuters, the shop chairman for United Automobile Staff (UAW) union Regional 1268 disclosed that corporation documents show that Cherokee manufacturing will relocate from Belvidere, Illinois to Stellantis’s plant in Toluca, Mexico.

A longtime Chrysler-FCA-Stellantis assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, will be indefinitely shut down as the corporation pursues choices to “enhance operations,” according to a report today by Automotive Information.

The Belvidere plant is presently the only production facility accountable for the output of the Jeep Cherokee SUV, which calls into problem the crossover’s long term. A agent from Jeep told Auto and Driver that the Cherokee will keep on being in output at Belvidere Assembly as a result of the end of February 2023, and the designs currently being produced now are 2023 products. In a statement to Reuters, UAW leader Tim Ferguson said inside enterprise files show generation of the Cherokee—or its replacement—will be moved to Stellantis’s manufacturing facility in Toluca, Mexico.

“The phase is extremely critical to us and we approach to stay fully commited to it prolonged-time period,” a Jeep spokesperson explained when pressed on foreseeable future options for the Cherokee nameplate.

Demand for the Cherokee has fallen sharply around the earlier handful of a long time. In 2019, 191,397 copies observed homes, although in 2020, only 135,855 had been marketed in 2021, profits dwindled to 89,126. Meanwhile, Jeep dealers moved just 30,852 Cherokees in the very first 9 months of 2022, a portion of the 189,727 Grand Cherokees—a far more pricey and probably more financially rewarding model—sold in the exact time interval.

The subsequent compact Jeep SUV could be an EV. Jeep has thorough ideas to shift to electric powered cars in modern months, which includes an Avenger EV for European and other world markets and a Wrangler-encouraged Recon EV for North The usa. Time will convey to, but the iconic, albeit problematic, nameplate could find alone emblazoned on the liftgate of an electric off-roader.

The plant closure will effects the just about 1300 employees, several of which are UAW union customers, when the facility is idled on February 28, 2023. According to the AN report, layoffs are most likely, whilst reassignment to other manufacturing amenities could be a possibility for some of the plant’s workforce.

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