Chrysler to shutter Jeep factory for 1 week; Dundee engine plant to roll on all summer

The Jeep plant in Toledo will shut down for a week in July for routine maintenance and upgrades.

Chrysler Group LLC will idle its Toledo Assembly Complex for one week next month, though the company’s engine plant in Dundee, Mich., will run nonstop through the summer.

It used to be standard practice for U.S. automakers to shut down their plants for two weeks around July 4 to do routine maintenance, make any necessary upgrades, and give workers a breather. Over the last couple of years that’s been less the case, as strong sales have kept automakers stoking the fires.

A Chrysler spokesman said Friday that both the Jeep Cherokee line and the Jeep Wrangler line will go quiet the week of July 14.

The company idled the Wrangler line for one week last year after not breaking at all in 2012. Cherokee production started shortly before last year’‍s shutdown period and wasn’t interrupted. Through the year’s first quarter, production of the Wrangler is up about 12 percent.

The Dundee Engine Plant, which produces a variety of four-cylinder engines used in many company products, also ran through last summer.

Officials say sales, inventory, maintenance needs, and needs of suppliers all factor into the decisions.

Chrysler’‍s summer schedule for its machining plant in Perrysburg Township wasn’t immediately available.

A spokesman for General Motors Co., which has a transmission plant in Toledo, said the company is not generally releasing its scheduling plans for summer.

Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134 or on Twitter @BladeAutoWriter.