Stellantis idles plants in Mexico and Canada due to tariffs

DETROIT – Stelllantis Stop production in two assembly factories in Canada and Mexico while the company is trying to navigate the new 25% automotive rates for President Donald Trump, the company confirmed on Thursday.

The actions are the fastest and the most drastic by a car manufacturer concerning the new prices, which entered into force on Thursday and are imposed on all vehicles imported in the United States, including Canada and Mexico.

Stellantis downtime starts on Monday and take place for two weeks at the Windsor assembly plant in the automaker in Ontario, Canada, and all April in its Toluca assembly plant in Mexico.

Following the production break, around 900 workers in the United States in the support factories will be temporarily dismissed, in addition to around 4,500 time workers from the Canadian factory, according to a company spokesperson. Mexico factory workers will always present themselves to the establishment but will not produce vehicles because of their contract, the spokesperson said

In an email to employees on Thursday, the chief of the North American Stellantis, Antonio Filosa, said that the factory downtime was linked to the prices, while the company examined its options.

“We continue to assess the medium and long -term effects of these prices on our operations, but we have also decided to take immediate actions, including a temporary break in some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly factories,” said Filosa. “These actions will have an impact on certain employees of several of our American and stamping group facilities that support these operations.”

Stellantis’ shares closed $ 10.21 on Thursday, down 9.4%. It is the worst day of action since September.

The Canadian factory produces the mini-dinner Chrysler Pacifica and the Dodge Charger Daytona EV recently published. The Mexico factory produces the JEEP COMPASS SUV and Jeep WAGONEER S.

Unifor Lana Payne National President, whose union represents Canadian workers, sentenced the prices on Thursday and expressed his concerns for its members.

“Unifor warned that the American prices would injure car workers almost immediately and in this case, the layoffs were announced even before the automotive rate has entered into force,” it said in a press release. “Trump is about to learn how interconnected the North American production system is hard, car workers paying the price of this lesson.”

Filosa said that “the current environment creates uncertainty”, but has assured employees that the company, which continues to seek a new CEO, is “very committed with all our main stakeholders, including the main government leaders, unions, suppliers and concessionaires in the United States, Canada and Mexico”.

The production stopped will also help Stellantis to reduce the inventory levels of vehicles that have accumulated in the midst of poor sales for many of its brands.

Stellantis Strait Rivals Ford engine And General Motors also responded to the prices, but not by slowing down production.

GM plans to temporarily increase the production of van trucks in an Indiana factory.

The increase in workers is added to those that the company was already hiring for the factory as additional workers to support summer breaks and leave for their regular employees, according to a person familiar with the plans.

GM, in a statement sent by e-mail, confirmed the plans on Thursday without mentioning prices.

The Detroit car manufacturer produces its crucial and very profitable vans such as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in various factories in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

GM did not reduce production in any plants following prices like Stellantis, said that the person, who was not allowed to speak to the media.

A few hours after the entry into force of Trump’s prices, Ford announced that it will offer its discount on employees to all customers.

Ford said the sales program – from April 3 to June 2 – includes “significant savings” but has not published exact details on the discounts.

The program, which he calls “from America, for America”, excludes some larger vehicles such as the Ford Raptor, Ford Expedition 2025, Ford Super Duty Trucks and Lincoln Navigator SUV.

“We understand that these are uncertain times for many Americans,” the company said in a statement. “We have the inventory of retail to do so and a lot of choices for customers who need a vehicle.”

American automotive sales in the first quarter were higher than expected, consumers, consumers flocked to buy cars before taking automobile prices, which, according to many, will cause higher prices of vehicles.

– CNBC Michele Luhn contributed to this article.