Supply-chain snags halt Chrysler Pacifica production

Supply-chain bottlenecks have halted production of Chrysler Pacifica minivans at Windsor Assembly Plant in Ontario.

Afternoon shift on Tuesday was cancelled followed by both shifts on Wednesday, according to social media posts by Local 444 of Unifor, the Canadian autoworkers union. It was unclear if the work stoppage resulted from low stocks of microchips or another part. It also was unclear how long the downtime could last at the Stellantis NV plant that employs more than 4,000 people on two shifts.

Windsor Assembly Plant produces the Chrysler Pacifica and Voyager minivans.

“Stellantis continues to work closely with our suppliers to mitigate the manufacturing impacts caused by the various supply chain issues facing our industry,” company spokeswoman LouAnn Gosselin said in a statement. “As the situation continues to be very fluid, we are making production adjustments as necessary to minimize additional production impact.”

Stellantis executives have shared that supply-chain snags, particularly resulting from the short global supply of semiconductors, is a daily challenge. CEO Carlos Tavares has said he doesn’t expect significant improvement until the end of next year.

Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer earlier this month on a financial results call said there had been “incremental improvement” in semiconductor supply, but that North America was facing more challenges in obtaining needed chips than other regions like Europe.

Last week, Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Stelllantis as a first step toward a multi-year supply agreement that could be worth more than $1.04 billion (1 billion euro) for silicon carbide semiconductors to the automaker’s suppliers.

Windsor Assembly Plant has been one of the most severely impacted plants from the microchip shortage in North America with an estimated 144,410 vehicles not able to be produced since the issue emerged in 2021, according to AutoForecast Solutions LLC’s Friday update. That includes more than 53,000 vehicles this year from more than 100 lost days.