Stellantis has paused the retooling of its Brampton, Ontario plant, which was to make the Jeep Compass and possibly other STLA Medium vehicles, according to Automotive News.
The move has been rumored among employees for some time, given the American President’s repeated statements that Canadian goods would be subject to high tariffs unless the country submitted to annexation by the United States. (Sources: AP, CTV) However, Stellantis never blamed these reasons, saying instead that they were evaluating their Compass strategy.
The company provided no details on layoffs.
One can speculate that Stellantis might belatedly be trying to increase the Compass’ off-road capabilities or even shift it to another brand. It’s also possible that leadership has re-examined the planned Peugeot/Punch powertrain. However, this is solely speculation.
Earlier we had reported that the freeze might have been due to delays by equipment suppliers. Other companies have had their schedules disrupted by robotics and other manufacturing equipment availability issues.
An earlier version of this story somehow misinterpreted the very clear headline and initial sentence of the original Automotive News story.
David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.
David Zatz has around 30 years of experience in covering Chrysler/Mopar news and history, and most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the Chrysler marque.
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