American Idled: Jeep Halts Production of Cherokee at Belvidere

It appears to be the end of the road for Jeep Cherokee as we know it, with Stellantis pulling the plug on Belvidere Assembly with no publicly known plan for replacement product.

The last Cherokee rolled off the line earlier this week, appearing to be an Attitude Lux trim clad in Diamond Black paint. Save for a few hastily placed mini American flags (plus a Buy American sticker) and a piece of paper noting the plant’s total production, fanfare seems to have been minimal. Idling a plant is never a great time in the life of a company, but Stellantis surely could have done a bit more to recognize these line workers – especially if this ends up being the last vehicle to ever roll out of a 58-year-old factory. The person in this photo, for example, says they have been working at Belvidere for 26 years.

Over on an unofficial Facebook page for the Belvidere plant, there are no shortage of tribute posts not just to the Cherokee but to the facility itself. The whole thing reads like an obit to an elderly relative, lending credence to rumours that Stellantis may be shutting the place down for good – at least in terms of vehicle production. Since 1965, the plant has built over 11.7 million vehicles, starting with from Plymouth and Dodge models until a switch to Omnirizon front-drivers in the late ‘70s. It started cranking out Dynasty sedans and its cousins in 1987, Neons in 1994, then members of the Caliber/Compass/Patriot family about a decade later. Cherokee production has been happening since 2016.

What’s next? Talking heads at the UAW will surely have stern questions about that, given the mother ship’s better-than-expected profit numbers during the last calendar year. Speculation is centering on a shift to Mexico, though nothing’s official. Nor is there much word on what, if anything, is going to plug the hole Cherokee leaves in the Jeep lineup. With a focus on electrification, there’s a solid chance whatever this brand has in their hopper for the compact crossover segment will have so-called ‘4xe’ gubbins in some capacity.

[Images: Jeep, Facebook]

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