Stellantis NV’s chief in North America on Saturday encouraged car buyers still to visit its dealerships amid the union’s strike at its Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant, saying the company is implementing its contingency plans.
Autoworkers at the plant in Toledo, Ohio, were among the 3,900 United Auto Workers members to walk off the line early Friday morning after the contracts between the Detroit-based union and the Detroit Three expired a minute before midnight. It marked the first time the union opted to strike all three companies simultaneously with workers at Ford Motor Co.’s Bronco and Ranger plant in Wayne and General Motor Co.’s midsize trucks plant in Wentzville, Missouri, halting production too.
At the end of August, Stellantis’ Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands had four of the five largest inventories of the major automakers in the United States, according to auto information resources company Cox Automotive Inc. Jeep had 102 days of inventory, above the industry average of 58. U.S. sales of the Wrangler SUV and Gladiator midsize pickup were down 15% and 29%, respectively, in the first half of 2023.
The company, said Mark Stewart, chief operating officer in North America, built up inventory ahead of mid-cycle refreshes for the Wrangler that launched this summer and the Gladiator that is expected to launch before the end of the year. The automaker unveiled the refreshed Gladiator this week at the Detroit auto show. Additionally, there’s some inventory build-up of the Ram 1500 pickup truck ahead of some changes in the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant this fall for the refreshed truck that could debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November.
“That’s a key driver behind some of those inventory buildups that you see,” Stewart said. “We have the product for the customers today. We really want to encourage customers, definitely don’t be afraid to get in the dealerships, so we’ve got some some very competitive deals for our customers across the lineup. And we’re doing our best to maintain them.”
UAW leaders, however, say they want to keep the companies off balance to offer union negotiators leverage and flexibility at the bargaining table. They are employing what UAW President Shawn Fain called a “stand-up strike,” initially sending out one local for each company with the threat of adding more based on how talks continue.
Stewart said the work stoppage at Toledo went smoothly and was handled professionally.
“Part of our DNA and very common in the automotive industry, but we always have contingency plans,” he said. “We’re ready. And as we shared yesterday, we didn’t turn off, but we are executing our contingency plans now.
“We want to make sure, to the best of our ability, we have our customer service, be it on a new car sale, be it on an aftersale service need. So, it’s very important through all of this that every one of us are not only inwardly facing as we go through this, we have to stay focused on our customers and not lose our customer base. It’s important, whether you’re on the company side, on the union side, we’re all on the same side for this. It is all about our customers, and it’s retaining our market with our customer base.”
He declined to specify what actions those contingency plans included for competitive reasons.
Stewart also shared details of Stellantis’ proposal to the union ahead of the walkout on Thursday. They included a 21% cumulative general wage increase for hourly workers, a solution for the idled Jeep Cherokee plant in Illinois and a four-year progression for full-time workers to get to the top wage.
“We clearly understand we’ve been in an inflationary environment,” Stewart said. “We understand that we need to make changes to reflect what’s happened since the last contract. And we have absolutely done that in this competitive offer that we’ve put forward.”
bnoble@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @BreanaCNoble