Jul 7th, 2008 by RJ Menezes
Chrysler’s Dodge division has been taking a real hit lately. Their lineup is mostly truck based and that is translating to poor sales. No better proof of this exists then the recently announced news that Dodge is once again idling production of it’s Ram pickup truck at it’s factory in Mexico.
Manuel Duarte, corporate communications director for Chrysler in Mexico, announced to the press that the plant will be closed for the month. Production at the same factory was also down June 9-23, making this the second time this summer that the plant has stopped production.
Chrysler only sold 16,149 Rams this June. That’s a 48.1 percent decrease from June 2007. Ram sales also fell 30.4 percent to 128,944 vehicles during the first six months of this year compared with the same period of 2007.
The Saltillo, Mexico plant employs about 2,000 full time employees, including 1,500 hourly workers. Duarte said the factory is expected to reopen Aug. 1. Whether it’s for the last time remains to be seen.