Stellantis is slicing 150 staff from the work power at its meeting plant in Belvidere, In poor health., the place the Jeep Cherokee is produced.
The layoffs are a part of efforts to rebalance staffing ranges and realign manufacturing “to satisfy world demand” for the Jeep Cherokee, based on the corporate.
Stellantis is the company father or mother created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Vehicles and France’s PSA Group.
“Following a assessment of its operations, 150 individuals shall be indefinitely laid off, beginning Feb. 20, 2021,” a Stellantis spokeswoman mentioned in a press release. “The corporate will make each effort to position indefinitely laid-off hourly staff in open full-time positions as they grow to be accessible primarily based on seniority.”
Jeep Cherokee manufacturing at Belvidere was idled from Feb. 8 to fifteen due to the worldwide microchip scarcity.
U.S. gross sales of the Cherokee slipped 10 p.c within the fourth quarter to 37,936 autos. Stellantis’ complete U.S. gross sales for the quarter declined 8 p.c whereas industrywide deliveries fell 2.4 p.c.
Stellantis mentioned many of the fourth-quarter decline was a results of a pointy drop in fleet orders, particularly these from rental automobile corporations coping with a pandemic-induced dip in enterprise journey.
The Detroit Free Press reported on the layoffs on Tuesday.