Stellantis announced partial production halts and factory closures.

The implementation of US tariff policies has sent shockwaves through the global auto industry. On April 4, multinational automaker Stellantis Limited (Stellantis N.V.) announced that it would temporarily shut down a plant in Canada. Additionally, the company will suspend production at a Jeep factory in Mexico and slow down production at four parts factories in the United States.

A week earlier, the US had already announced a 25% tariff on all imported cars and key components, but the more detailed tariff policies targeted at each country and region a week later were like a heavy bomb, triggering massive shocks in the global automotive industry as well as the global trade and economic fields.

The 2,700 employees at the Toluca de Lerdo plant located in southern Mexico were forced to stop work for the entire month of April.

In order not to cause chaos, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum specifically announced to the outside world that the shutdown was temporary, as the market for electric vehicles was limited. Previously, Stellantis had announced the closure of a plant in Windsor, southwestern Ontario, Canada, which employed 4,000 people. Employees complained that this was all due to the high tariffs imposed on vehicles imported into the US.

Starting from April 3, a 25% surtax will be levied on all non-US manufactured vehicles. In a letter to employees on Thursday, Antonio Filosa, the head of Stellantis in the US, said, "With the implementation of new car tariffs, we need collective resilience to get through this difficult period."

Stellantis stated that as a result, about 900 employees at four parts factories in Michigan and Indiana, USA, will be "temporarily" laid off.

Meanwhile, the group, which owns Jeep, Dodge, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, confirmed that it had launched a "radical" rebate promotion campaign called "America's Choice Freedom" on Thursday.

Just like Ford's "Made in America, For America" campaign, the aim is to attract buyers to dealerships, while the prices of all vehicles may rise significantly, as tariffs have made logistics in the industry extremely complex.

Source: rfi

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1828518505865305/

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