The Windsor, Ontario plant which makes Chrysler Pacifica minivans will stay on two shifts, according to a recent company announcement, dropping plans to cut one shift.
The minivan, sold in gasoline and PHEV forms, has varied in popularity over time, and the plant itself has had numerous temporary shutdowns due to parts shortages. The Windsor plant is set to be closed for retooling in roughly a year, reopening to build STLA large vehicles—which might or might not include a new minivan.
Chrysler’s history in Windsor, Ontario began when Maxwell and Chalmers both set up factories there in 1916. Chrysler Corporation itself dated to 1925, as a continuation of Maxwell (and, rather incidentally by then, Chalmers). The Pillette Road plant, which made B-vans from 1974 to 2003, is no longer present; the dedicated engine plant opened in 1938 and closed in 1980. The current Windsor Assembly Plant has been expanded from the original several times (growing from 289,000 to 4.4 million square feet), and was, in 2014-15, stripped to the walls and rebuilt with state-of-the-art skillet lines; it made a variety of cars for many years before its dedication to minivans from 1983 to the present.