Ford Motor Co. expands two-week shutdown @ Avon Lake, Ohio, truck plant

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co. expanded a two-week shutdown at its Avon Lake, Ohio, truck plant to one of two shifts that make Econoline vans to reduce inventories of the vehicles.

The factory, which already planned to halt a minivan assembly line that makes Ford's Mercury Villager and Nissan Motor Co.'s Quest, now will also idle the Econoline shift starting Monday, Ford spokeswoman Cheryl Eberwein said. As a result of both the van and minivan moves, the plant will lay off 1,500 of a total 2,100 hourly workers for the two weeks.

The second-largest automaker builds 928 Econolines a day with two shifts, Eberwein said. Ford sold 99,345 of the large vans in the U.S. this year through September, down 20 percent from the year-earlier period, according to Autodata Corp.