Detroit 3 to Shorten or Cancel Summer Breaks at Plants
Auto production plants usually shut down for about two weeks in July to provide employees with a vacation and to give the company time to upgrade or inspect their facilities, but strong sales are leaving no extra time to stop the assembly line.
The Detroit 3 will all have to modify their summer schedules this year to make sure that they can meet demands. Ford will be cutting its usual two-week shutdown in half at four of its plants, Chrysler will keep two of its U.S. plants open with no shut down at all and General Motors will keep one third of its American assembly plants running.
Overall, light vehicle sales have improved by 4 percent year-over-year to 8.2 million vehicles sold during the first half of 2014.
SEE ALSO: June 2014 Auto Sales: Winners and Losers
Chrysler plans to keep its Jefferson North and Sterling Heights plants open for the summer, where the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango and Chrysler 200 are built.
At GM, the plants that build the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Chevy Corvette are not scheduled to shut down.
As for Ford, the plants that build the Ford Explorer, Taurus, F series, Expedition and Escape along with the Lincoln MKS, MKC and Navigator will endure shorter shut downs than normal. The company’s plant in Dearborn, Michigan will shut down for most of September to retool in preparation for the new aluminum body F-150.
[Source: Automotive News]
Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>
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It is good for making up for their massive recalls
I can't believe people still buy American cars.