The auto maker estimates it will take CMI administrators several days to stabilize the business and resume production, and it will be 24 hours after that before parts are available, which should be next Wednesday.
Saab Automobile Parts signs an agreement allowing it the use of the bankrupt auto maker’s press and body-shop for the manufacture and assembly of body parts and components.
CMI Industrial’s landlord has locked the plant in suburban Melbourne due to unpaid rent, and the company reportedly is rumored to be on the verge of bankruptcy.
Commercial vehicles’ first-quarter sales slump is blamed on tight supplies of pickups sourced from Thailand, which is still recovering from last year’s disastrous floods.
An additional shift will see both production lines operating around the clock for the first time in the plant’s 26-year history, a move that will raise manufacturing capacity to more than 550,000 units annually.
Deliveries have risen in four of the past eight months, but the industry says stability is the underlying market trend. The 12-month running total has been at about 1.95 million units since June 2011.