Chrysler Group has said it will curtail overtime at some of its assembly plants.
It has canceled overtime at its Brampton, Ontario and Toluca, Mexico plants in response to dwindling parts supplies. The Brampton facility produces the Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger and 300 while the Toluca plant is home to the Dodge Journey and the Fiat 500, which Chrysler is just now introducing in the US, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said.
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“We have not experienced any disruptions to regularly scheduled production as a result of the issues in Japan,” a Chrysler spokeswoman told the WSJ. “We are, however, taking some planned overtime out of our production schedule in an effort to conserve supplier parts that are potentially impacted by the disaster.”
Japanese production isn’t expected to return to pre-quake levels until October or thereafter, JP Morgan analyst Kohei Takahashi said in a research note cited by the WSJ. He expects Japanese production to drop 57% in the second quarter compared with the same time period a year earlier as a variety of auto makers respond to their lack of parts.
Ford shut a plant in Kentucky and Germany this week in part to conserve parts while General Motors idled a Louisiana plant in March because of parts shortages. Toyota has also warned that some of its U.S. plants may be temporarily shut at some point in the future.
Meanwhile, most US automakers have now switched their plants away from using Xirallic-based paints. The production of Xirallic, an additive that provides a glitter effect in some auto paints, was shut down after the Japan plant where it is produced was damaged. Merck said it expects the plant to return to production in June. The plant is the only place in the world where Xirallic is made, the WSJ noted.
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By GlobalDataThe loss of Xirallic is especially hard on Chrysler’s Fiat dealers who are no longer accepting customer orders for cars painted in its bright red trademark colors known as Rosso Brillante, the Wall Street Journal noted.
