Ford Taurus in one-week production halt

DETROIT (Reuters) - A labor dispute at an auto parts supplier in India has forced Ford Motor Co to shut production of its new Taurus full-size sedan one week due to a transmission component shortage, a spokesman said on Friday.

Ford has about a 40 days' supply of the Taurus and will idle production next week, spokesman Todd Nissen said. He declined to estimate the number of sedans the automaker would typically produce at its Chicago Assembly plant in one week.

The release of the 2010 Taurus is one of Ford's key launches this year. The Chicago plant has 1,300 workers and builds the Taurus and Lincoln MKS sedans.

Nissen said Ford would continue to work with Rico Auto on improving the parts supply and on contingency plans.

The Chicago plant is the second Ford plant to face a temporary production shutdown due to parts shortages that stem from a six-week strike at Rico Auto Industries that ended earlier this week.

Ford idled its Oakville, Ontario, plant for one week in October due to parts shortages from the Rico strike. Ford builds its Ford Edge, Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT in Oakville.

(Reporting by David Bailey; editing by Carol Bishopric)