Jeep guardian firm Stellantis on Friday stated it will indefinitely shut down a producing plant in Illinois and lay off roughly 1,350 staff early subsequent yr. The facility – positioned in Belvidere, a metropolis 75 miles northwest of downtown Chicago – is chargeable for producing the inner combustion engine Jeep Cherokee crossover. In a press release the automaker , Stellantis blamed the price of electrifying its automobiles for the transfer.
“[The automotive industry] has been adversely affected by a mess of things like the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the worldwide microchip scarcity, however essentially the most impactful problem is the growing price associated to the electrification of the automotive market,” the corporate stated, including that it might shutter the ability completely because it considers what to do subsequent.
United Auto Workers Local 1268 store chairman Tim Ferguson advised Reuters that firm paperwork present Stellantis plans to maneuver Cherokee manufacturing to a facility in Toluca, Mexico. “To me, there is no question about it,” he stated. “Their plan is to close this plant.” Stellantis declined to touch upon Ferguson’s allegations. “We are not commenting on the future of the Cherokee,” the corporate stated.
As , Stellantis isn’t the primary automaker guilty EVs for a current set of layoffs. In August, Ford . “We have an opportunity to lead this exciting new era of connected and electric vehicles,” the automaker stated on the time. “Building this future requires changing and reshaping virtually all aspects of the way we have operated for more than a century.”
It’s additionally value noting Friday’s announcement got here on the identical day that employees at a General Motors-LG battery cell facility in Ohio voted overwhelmingly in . Unions in , , and different elements of the world just lately requested Stellantis to lift employee wages by as a lot as 8.5 p.c following a yr of file world inflation. In the , Stellantis stated income grew to €42.1 billion (roughly $44 billion), a 29 p.c from the identical interval final yr.
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