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Consistent with our sticky'd 2018/2019 Wrangler timeline, The Toledo Blade has quoted president of the UAW Local 12 in confirming that production of the all new JL Wrangler will begin in November 2017, with pre-production models to start much earlier.
Part of Toledo plant (the portion producing the Cherokee) will shut down for 6 months starting in April as the facility retools the assembly line for the JL/JLU Wrangler. Cherokee production will be shifted in whole to the Belvidere plant in Illinois.
The shutdown will not affect production of the current JK/JKU Wrangler which will continue into 2018. Our supplier sources have now confirmed that 2018 JK/JKU production will run from October 2, 2017 until the end of March 2018 -- for a 6 month model year. Why produce both simultaneously? It prevents the loss of months of sales from retooling the current Wrangler line for the new Wrangler; a move that helps satisfy the current unmet demand globally (including in the U.S.) for the Wrangler. After the JK Wrangler bows out for good, its production line capacity will go towards building additional Wrangler models, including the Wrangler pickup truck (due one year after the JL/JLU Wrangler) and diesel and hybrid models.
With production coming very late in 2017, we don't expect to see the 2018 Wrangler (JL/JLU) revealed until the second half of 2017 -- timing which Jeep CEO Michael Manley recently stated as probable.
Part of Toledo plant (the portion producing the Cherokee) will shut down for 6 months starting in April as the facility retools the assembly line for the JL/JLU Wrangler. Cherokee production will be shifted in whole to the Belvidere plant in Illinois.
The shutdown will not affect production of the current JK/JKU Wrangler which will continue into 2018. Our supplier sources have now confirmed that 2018 JK/JKU production will run from October 2, 2017 until the end of March 2018 -- for a 6 month model year. Why produce both simultaneously? It prevents the loss of months of sales from retooling the current Wrangler line for the new Wrangler; a move that helps satisfy the current unmet demand globally (including in the U.S.) for the Wrangler. After the JK Wrangler bows out for good, its production line capacity will go towards building additional Wrangler models, including the Wrangler pickup truck (due one year after the JL/JLU Wrangler) and diesel and hybrid models.
With production coming very late in 2017, we don't expect to see the 2018 Wrangler (JL/JLU) revealed until the second half of 2017 -- timing which Jeep CEO Michael Manley recently stated as probable.
Cherokee production to end in April in city
Plant to prepare for new Jeep Wrangler
Published on Dec. 30, 2016
Production of the Jeep Cherokee in Toledo is expected to come to an end in early April as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles begins to prepare part of its plant here for the next-generation Jeep Wrangler.
Local union officials say the facility will be shut down for about six months as the company replaces tooling and adapts the assembly line for the body-on-frame Wrangler.
Fiat Chrysler hasn’t announced a launch date for that new Wrangler.
However, Bruce Baumhower, president of United Auto Workers Local 12, said normal production of the iconic four-by-four is to begin in November. Production of initial models, to work out production kinks, would start much earlier.
A Fiat Chrysler spokesman declined to comment.
The company has previously announced that the Cherokee would move to an existing Fiat Chrysler plant in Belvidere, Ill., sometime next year. Fiat Chrysler has committed to investing $350 million there to support the project.
Local media near Belvidere, which for the last decade has built the compact Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot, have reported that plant is already in the midst of its changeover.
The Rockford Register Star reported that retooling work would begin this week and quoted UAW officials there saying they anticipate the process to take about five months, which matches up with what local UAW officials told The Blade.
Production of the Compass and Patriot in Belvidere ended Dec. 23.
In Toledo, production of the current-generation Jeep Wrangler, on sale since the 2007 model year, will not be affected by the Cherokee’s move.
“The plant’s going to continue to run the current Wrangler just like they always have, working six or seven days a week,” Mr. Baumhower said.
That’s expected to continue until March, 2018, when Fiat Chrysler shuts down that side of the Toledo Assembly Complex to prepare it to launch a Wrangler-based pickup.
Fiat Chrysler officials said early this year that all 5,000 full-time jobs at the Toledo Assembly Complex will be protected, though they haven’t detailed how that would work, as total vehicle output is expected to drop once all the changes are complete.
In July, along with announcing the retooling in Toledo would mean a $700 million investment, Fiat Chrysler said it expected to add 700 new jobs in Toledo, though no further details have been released.
UAW leaders have expressed concerns about supplier jobs, however, as production of the Cherokee moves.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in the last couple of months looking into what impact this has on local suppliers and our members in the local suppliers in northwest Ohio,” Mr. Baumhower said.
The Cherokee remains one of the Jeep brand’s best-selling vehicles, with 183,356 sold through November.
Source: The Blade
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