Jeep Gladiator production at Stellantis’ Toledo, Ohio, assembly plant will be idled next week, making the midsize pickup the latest casualty in the global microchip shortage.
The third-best selling midsize pickup in the U.S. this year is built at the automaker’s Toledo South Assembly Plant. Production is expected to be halted for a week, the company said.
The Gladiator sits only behind the Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger in the midsize truck segment. U.S. sales of the Gladiator rose 40 percent to 48,784 in the first half.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said last week that he expects the chip shortage to drag into 2022.
He said the automaker is now making “a certain number of decisions in terms of changing the diversity of conductors.”
The company’s Jefferson North factory in Detroit, which builds the Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango, has been down since July 11 and will resume production on Aug. 9.
The automaker said Jeep Cherokee production at Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois will resume the week of Aug. 2 on one shift. Jeep Compass output restarts at the automaker’s Toluca Assembly Plant in Mexico next week. In addition, production of the Dodge Charger and Challenger muscle cars and the Chrysler 300 sedan, at Brampton Assembly Plant in Ontario, will resume next week.
Minivan production at the company’s Windsor Assembly Plant in Ontario resumes next week, and is also expected to run the week of Aug. 9. Stellantis said the plant will observe its summer shutdown the weeks of Aug. 16 and 23.
