Chrysler town and country

The announcement came just a week after Chrysler officials denied they planned to accelerate the planned closure of the plant, where the firm makes Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen sport utility vehicles. Chrysler said a year ago it would idle the plant at the end of 2009 and reaffirmed that schedule last week. By closing the plant earlier, Chrysler apparently is getting out of the large SUV business, because those vehicles are not made at any other plant.

The large SUVs were not selling well, and the Newark plant has been running on one shift since July of 2006. It had been idle for five weeks since production of the 2009 models began in August and workers returned on Monday after the latest layoff of three weeks. Chrysler spokesman Ed Saenz said Chrysler sold 17,339 Durangos through September, down 54 percent from sales for the first nine months of last year. Aspen sales dropped 21 percent to 17,681.

Peak production of the Durango came in 1999 with the sale of 189,840 vehicles. Chrysler said today it also will eliminate one shift at a Toledo Jeep plant, placing about 825 workers at the Toledo North Assembly Plant on indefinite layoff as of Dec. 31. The Toledo factory makes the Dodge Nitro and Jeep Liberty. Both have been selling slowly this year due to high gas prices and a slowing U.S. economy.

Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler said in a statement that the changes will adjust inventory to better match consumer demand. “The markets are facing unprecedented turmoil and we are in a time of historic change in the auto industry,” Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler’s executive vice president of manufacturing, said.