Aluminum Shortage Forces Jeep Wagoneer Production Pause
The disruption caused by a fire at a major aluminum supplier’s plant is affecting carmakers, and not just Ford.
The September 16 fire severely damaged the Novelis plant in Oswego, New York, forcing a complete halt to production until the first quarter of 2026. Novelis is one of the main aluminum suppliers in North America; its biggest client is Ford, but Stellantis also uses the supplier’s metal for several of its models.
Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer on pause for three weeks
Due to a lack of sufficient raw materials, Stellantis is idling its Warren Truck plant in Michigan for three weeks. That facility produces the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, two large SUVs of which the automaker sold 34,672 units in the U.S. between January and September 2025.
Production is scheduled to resume during the week of November 3, according to the preliminary timeline. In the meantime, the automaker is redirecting what materials it does have to the production of the Ram 1500, a much more profitable and popular model, with 143,264 sales in the U.S. during the same period.
Ford remains the hardest hit
At Ford, the consequences are more significant. The halt in aluminum production at Oswego has already led to a 55-percent reduction in the F-150 production rate at Ford’s Dearborn plant, which is now assembling only 530 trucks per day until the end of October. The electric F-150 Lightning version is also on pause.