Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is idling its minivan plant in Windsor, Ontario, the week of Feb. 18 due to a parts shortage, the company says.
FCA Canada spokeswoman Lou Ann Gosselin said Wednesday the problem is with “an external supplier.”
“FCA is re-timing the down week at the Windsor Assembly Plant from the week of Feb. 25 to the week of Feb. 18. Normal production schedules are expected to resume the week of Feb. 25,” she said.
Gosselin didn't say which supplier was having problems.
Unifor Local 444 President David Cassidy says the company informed the union of the temporary shutdown on Tuesday.
The upcoming shutdown will be the third temporary closure of 2019. The plant did not operate the first two weeks of January to adjust inventories, the company said at the time.
About 6,000 employees at Windsor Assembly build the Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Pacifica and the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid on three shifts daily, usually six days per week.
Running at full volume, the plant produces nearly 1,500 minivans per day.
U.S. sales of the Pacifica were unchanged at 118,322 last year, off just 48 from 2017. But sales fell 13 percent to 6,963 in January. U.S. sales of the Dodge Grand Caravan totaled 7,113 in January, down 32 percent.
In Canada, Pacifica deliveries slipped three percent to 5,999 in 2018. Sales in January were off 47 percent to just 277 units. Caravan sales in January fell 44 percent to 1,947.
U.S. stockpiles of the Pacifica stood at 105 days as of Feb. 1, according to the Automotive News Data Center in Detroit. There was an 88-day supply of Grand Caravans in early February. Similar data isn't made public in Canada.
