FCA Trims Maserati Levante Plant Hours by Nearly 60 Percent

Fiat Chrysler is cutting working hours at its Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy by 59 percent.

The Mirafiori facility is currently tasked with building the Maserati Levante crossover. The plant also makes the Alfa Romeo MiTo hatch, which isn’t sold in North America. FCA had previously halted production of the Levante for roughly a week, keeping workers at home to avoid a surplus of inventory. Now it’s had workers at the Italian plant sign solidarity contracts, Automotive News Europe reports, which will see them work less hours but retain their positions with the company.

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In early 2017, Maserati recalled the 1,515 Levante S vehicles in the US for an issue related to the transmission. That recall represented every single Levante vehicle sold in the US and saw the crossover get off to a rocky start in North America. Maserati sold 5,448 Levante examples in the US in 2017 and a further 5,733 in Europe. It will soon launch the V8-powered Levante GTS, which will feature a Ferrari-derived 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 engine and could help attract more customers to the high-end luxury crossover.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]