Another Stellantis plant to temporarily shut down next week as 20,700 engines pile up

DETROIT — Stellantis NV’s Trenton Engine Complex, which produces V-6 Pentastar engines for Rams, Chryslers and Jeeps, will shut down next week with workers temporarily laid off.

The facility, with two shifts employing more than 600 hourly and salaried workers, “will be down next week to balance engine inventories,” Stellantis spokesperson Jodi Tinson said.

“Our bank of engines is a little bit high right now,” said Dave Gerbi, president of United Auto Workers Local 372, which represents about 570 hourly workers at the plant. The current bank of engines finished and ready to go into vehicles stood at about 20,700 this week.

The Trenton shutdown follows several other temporary Stellantis plant or shift cutbacks this summer — including in Warren and Toledo — to help normalize inventory levels as the company has struggled with slow sales in the United States that were down 16% in the first half of the year compared to 2023.

Stellantis also last week announced a permanent layoff at its Warren Truck Assembly Plant that could potentially impact 2,450 workers, though the company said it would likely be less. The cut is scheduled for October and is due to the discontinuation of the Ram 1500 Classic.

Trenton produces V-6s for the Ram Classic, Gerbi said, but the end of the pickup won’t have a big impact on the plant, whose workers knew the truck’s final days were coming.

The larger issue is Stellantis’ recent sluggish sales, he said. Trenton builds engines that go into Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators, for example, and the Toledo Assembly Complex where those vehicles are made has faced intermittent temporary layoffs since last month in an effort to align production with sales, meaning more engines have stacked up in storage.