TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) -
Chrysler
announced on Friday its U.S. sales rose 16 percent last month, marking its
strongest January sales in five years. The Toledo-made Jeep Wrangler is
part of that success.
Sales
for the Wrangler jumped 12 percent in January - its best January sales since
2007.
The
SUV continues to fly off the lot and onto area roadways at Grogan's Towne
Chrysler in North Toledo.
In
recent years, Chrysler has tweaked its design enough to make it
a specialty kind of vehicle for consumers.
"People
that buy it for the first time buy it over and over again," said Denny Amrhein
of Grogan's Towne. "Then you get the younger people that really like it once
they get it."
Of
course, if more Wranglers are being sold, then more need to be built at
Toledo's Chrysler Jeep plant. Workers are now on a 6-day-a-week schedule,
with two Saturdays on and one off, and 10-hour shifts.
Union
officials expect to see what's called a "tag relief system" implemented, a
program to increase Wrangler volume by 60 each day.
"It's
different for them," explained UAW Jeep Unit Chairman Dan Henneman. "Instead of
the line stopping for them after a 15-minute break, you designate another union
person who actually goes around and says, 'It's your turn to take a break,' and
tag people…as opposed to shutting down the whole production system."
He
added that the result will be 40-50 jobs added per shift, and Chrysler gets
more Wranglers.
"We're
building 770 Wranglers a day now," Henneman said. "They'd like to get us up to
around a thousand if they could. Hopefully, they decide to make an investment
and expand the building so we could increase our line speed."
That
game of tag is what Chrysler dealerships like Grogan's Towne likes to hear.
"I
don't see anything but good news for Wranglers," Amrhein said.
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Jeep Wrangler sales increased by 12 percent in January.
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