AUBURN HILLS – Faurecia North American will close two metro Detroit factories resulting in the layoff of 348 employees after FCA US discounted production of its Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart models.
The interiors and emission controls supplier’s Merrill Road plant in Sterling Heights and its Masonic Road plant in Fraser will be closed as a result of the loss of business, according toTony Sapienza, director of communications for Faurecia North America.
At the Merrill Road plant, 117 employees, including 113 United Auto Workers employees, will be terminated. At the Masonic plant, 93 employees will lose their jobs.
Faurecia’s plants on Sims Road in Sterling Heights and on 14 Mile Road in Fraser will remain open because they also support General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. programs, though 138 employees will be permanently laid off, Sapienza said.
At the Sims Road plant, 98 employees, including 92 UAW workers, will be terminated. The 14 Mile plant will lay off 40.
Layoffs are set to begin in December.
FCA discontinued the models after slow sales. FCA’s Dart assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill., is being retooled to build the Jeep Cherokee, and FCA’s assembly plant in Sterling Heights, where it assembled the Dart, is to be retooled for production of the body-on-frame 2018 Ram 1500,Automotive News reported.
The move has caused 1,300 workers to be laid off at FCA’s Sterling Heights plant and has trickled down the supply chain. Other effects include the closing of Martinrea Hot Stampings in Detroit, resulting in the loss of another 122 jobs.
