Production Halted for Challenger, Charger, Ram 1500 and More

The global microchip shortage that is causing delays across the entire world’s auto industry hit Stellantis production facilities hard last week, with the automaker announcing multiple weeks of unplanned production stoppages for plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico. This production stoppage impacts the Dodge Challenger, the Dodge Charger, the Chrysler 300, the Chrysler Pacifica, the Ram 1500 Classic, the Jeep Compass and the Jeep Cherokee, according to the report from the Detroit Free Press.

Unplanned Production Stoppages

The plants which are stopping production until sometime next month start with two in the United States; Warren Truck Assembly in Detroit and Belvidere Assembly in Illinois. At the Warren plant, the Ram 1500 Classic is affected while Illinois plant will temporarily stop building the Jeep Cherokee. Next, two Canadian plants have halted production from a few weeks, including Brampton Assembly and Windsor Assembly, both of which are in Ontario. The Brampton plant builds the Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger (including Hellcat and Redeye models) and Chrysler 300 while the Windsor plant builds the Chrysler Pacifica minivan in both conventional and hybrid form. Finally, the Toluca Assembly plant in Mexico, which builds the Jeep Compass, will be down until sometime in April.

This unplanned downtime is going to be the most costly for Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge brands. Dodge relies on the Challenger and Charger, both of which have been in short supply for nearly a year. Based on 2020 sales, the Cherokee and Compass are the two best-selling vehicles on this list and with fuel prices rising, we can expect that the popularity of these two smaller SUVs will continue to rise. As for the Pacifica and Pacifica Hybrid, they are the heart of the Chrysler brand. Fortunately, while the Ram 1500 Classic production is halted, the newer Ram 1500 is continuing on with production for the time being.

More Trouble on the Horizon

Making matters worse, the ship that has been stuck in the Suez Canal has backed up a key trade route, which is almost guaranteed to lead to more shortages and delays in the global automotive supply chain. In other words, the automotive industry is about to face a few months of rough weather as they all struggle to get the components needed to build vehicles.