By Sasint @ Adobe Stock
Jeeps and other Stellantis-made vehicles are piling up at dealerships, forcing the company to idle its factories. The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Glickman reports:
Jeep’s parent company has pressed pause on making two of its top-selling U.S. models.
Factories temporarily stopped producing the Jeep Wrangler and Grand Cherokee sport-utility vehicles in the past week, people familiar with the matter said. Those models were among Jeep’s bestsellers through the first half of the year.
In a statement, Jeep’s parent, Stellantis STLA -0.87%decrease; red down pointing triangle, late Wednesday confirmed “production adjustments” at two Detroit assembly plants that make the Grand Cherokee, and another factory in Toledo, Ohio, where the Wrangler is produced. How many days the facilities have been idled couldn’t be determined.
The production cuts come as Stellantis grapples with some of the industry’s highest inventory levels and as sales have sagged, triggering complaints from dealers.
“Stellantis continues to take the necessary actions to improve operations in the U.S. market,” the company said. “The company will continue to monitor the situation to assess whether further action is required.”
A company spokesperson said the plants would be producing vehicles Thursday.
For months, dealers and Wall Street analysts have blamed Stellantis’s bloated stocks on higher prices and fewer promotions than from rivals. Some retailers complained that they have had trouble drumming up business after being left with larger numbers of pricey or outdated models of cars and trucks.
The trans-Atlantic carmaker, formed by the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, has seen its sales and market share slip as efforts to reduce its stock of cars and trucks in the U.S. have proved unsuccessful.
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