Jeep Wrangler Production Shut Down For Week

DETROIT, Oct 2, 2009; Soyoung Kim writing for Reuters reported that Chrysler Group LLC said on Friday it will idle production of its Jeep Wrangler SUV for a week starting Monday due to part shortages from an unidentified supplier.

Chrysler said its Toledo, Ohio plant, which produces the Jeep Wrangler and has 525 hourly factory workers, will be shut down due to the "continued stress in the automotive supply chain."

Chrysler spokesman Max Gates did not identify the auto parts maker or the parts supplied by the company.

Chrysler sold 65,045 Wrangler SUVs in the first nine months of the year, flat from 2008, making it one of the few vehicles to avoid a steep decline in sales.

U.S. auto parts suppliers have been hit hard by a steep downturn in North American auto production, the lack of financing and the bankruptcies of General Motors Co [GM.UL] and Chrysler earlier this year.

Even the failure to provide a single component by a supplier has the potential to disrupt production quickly at automakers due to the manufacturing practices of having parts delivered just before assembly of the vehicles.

Editing Bernard Orr