By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
BELVIDERE — Work at the Belvidere Assembly Plant will remain idle through the end of the month as the automaker continues to grapple with the repercussions of a global microchip shortage.
The plant where Jeep Cherokees are made is one of the region’s largest employers with more than 2,500 workers. But it has faced significant downtime this year because of the microchip shortage and other supply chain issues. In July, the company reduced work to a single shift because of those issues and slowing demand for Cherokees.
“Stellantis continues to work closely with our suppliers to mitigate the manufacturing impacts caused by the various supply chain issues facing our industry,” the company said Wednesday in an emailed statement. “Due to the unprecedented global microchip shortage, production at the Belvidere (Ill.) Assembly Plant will be down through the end of October.”
Belvidere has lost 119,627 units of production as of Tuesday, the largest hit of any Stellantis plant in North America, according to The Detroit News, which cited AutoForecast Solutions data.
City leaders, meanwhile, are pushing state lawmakers to help strengthen the plant’s viability. This week, Belvidere City Council members approved a resolution calling for incentives to produce electric vehicles in Illinois.
Stellantis has not signaled any plans to make electric vehicles in Belvidere, but the company is investing approximately $35 billion in the technology through 2025, it announced in July.
“We are up to the challenge to keep our Belvidere plant in operation, utilizing our local education facilities in workforce training consistent with our tradition of providing a skilled workforce to meet the future,” Mayor Clinton Morris wrote in a letter to Gov. JB Pritzker, which was shared with the Rock River Current. “We fully understand the local, regional and state economic consequences should we fail to do so.”
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.