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Workers at Chrysler's Windsor, Ontario plant breathed a sigh of relief when Chrysler announced they're closing their St. Louis south plant to cut van production. Their relief may be short-lived, though. We've learned through a confidential informant that Chrysler is also shutting down the Windsor van plant through the end of August. This comes after some component plants have been running at full tilt, working overtime, weekends and even the Canada Day long weekend, to meet Chrysler's demands. This was totally unexpected and "scheduling people are running in circles trying to readjust inventories and halt our suppliers." Which plant will be the next to fall? Or will it be Chrysler itself?
12 Comments on “Chrysler Windsor Minivan Plant Taking “Extended Summer Break”...”
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What about production of the “VW” minivan? Were they to be built at the same facilities as the Chrysler vans or has VW come to its senses and forgotten about the whole awful idea?
I don’t get it. Yesterday’s press release on the June numbers was so full praise for the restyled mini-vans, “Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivan sales increase in June”, from what must have been a truly dismal June 07. Now, it sounds like they have enough 08’s to last them through the rest of the model year.
Sounds like they are trying to decrease their inventories. Caravan and TC are #1 and #3 in the market, and combined outsell the Odyssey 2 to 1. So Windsor isn’t going anywhere.
Isn’t one of the main complaints of the Big 2.8 is that their inventories are out of control? Chrysler has brought theirs down significantly and this is just a step in that process.
Obviously they thought sales would be higher than they were on the new mini-vans. They are good, but not as great as expected. But neither are anyone elses.
Do you all think the Detroit is going to end up with a Dell style model for making cars and trucks? In other words, they will not build the car until an order comes in, then whip one out and ship it to you?
That way they keep inventory levels low and not waste money building cars that don’t sell.
yankinwaoz
I’d love to see the whole industry go that way. It’d be harder to shop for deals from existing inventory, but everyone gets what they want and dealerships lose a lot of their sketchiness.
Just keep a couple demos on the lot, then sell them at the end of the year for a deep discount.
I don’t even know why cars are built to inventory at all…it’s like spec homes in residential construction. And we all see how that’s been going.
In one sense, most sensible car companies do EXACTLY what you are referring to, yankinwaoz.
The thing you have to remember, is that for the car factories, the customer is the DEALER. The dealer then has what is called a “floor plan” of revolving credit to “carry” the vehicle financing until it is actually sold on to the first registered owner, which we always call “the buyer”.
But in reality, we, Jonny Q Public and Jane Public, can’t simply buy a car from a car company; we have to buy it from a dealer, a retailer.
It’s when car companies build tons of literally un-ordered cars and “bank” them against “future orders” (by dealers) that they run into major trouble.
This is what nearly sunk Chrysler in 1978-1979. Detroit was literally lousy with HUGE and I mean HUGE numbers of un-ordered cars parked in every available grassy area near plants and not so near plants, all getting nicely pre-rusted before they went to dealers and unhappy new (?) car buyers.
Lee Iacocca stopped that practice and then Chrysler was found to be – STOOOOOPIDLY – doing it again, was it late last year or early this year?
Those who don’t learn from from prior mistakes, are damned to repeat them.
With the combination of government Employment Insurance and company/union provided lay off pay, many autoworkers here in Canada actually look forward to a few weeks off in the summer.
Another hat tip to menno, our in-house historian: “It’s when car companies build tons of literally un-ordered cars and ‘bank’ them against ‘future orders’ (by dealers) that they run into major trouble.”
If I recall correctly, Chrysler actually called that sea of unordered vehicles their “sales bank.” The concept is reminiscent of early boosters of homesteading the high plains of Kansas, Nebraska and such. “Yes, the land is arid,” they admitted, “but planting crops and trees will make it rain more!”
Well the layoff weeks are hardely top secret.
The workers were notified of the extra weeks of downtime long ago. And note that St. Louis isn’t closing until Halloween.
This top secret info can be easily found at autoworker.net
yankinwaoz :
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Do you all think the Detroit is going to end up with a Dell style model for making cars and trucks? In other words, they will not build the car until an order comes in, then whip one out and ship it to you?
That way they keep inventory levels low and not waste money building cars that don’t sell.
That was Roger Smith’s goal. It didn’t work too well out for him. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that custom ordering cars has declined in the last few decades, not increased. The foreign builders basically don’t do it, and the domestic dealers have so much stuff gathering dust on the lot that most people buy something already there for cheap instead of paying closer to sticker for something custom made.
This ability would be a significant advantage for the domestics, if they could keep supply in line with demand. But they can’t, so it isn’t.
What? You mean Chryler is cutting back on Minvans? Wow, what else do they make?
I just hope they’re stockpiling Routans, because those things are gonna be hot sellers. How can you go wrong with a thirsty Chrysler engine/transmission combo and a VW service department involved?