CHICAGO | The future of the Ford Taurus X and Mercury Sable remains uncertain amidst media reports that production on the two car models would be halted.

Ford Motor Co. did not confirm or deny the reports Monday.

Both vehicles are produced at the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant along with the Ford Taurus and the Lincoln MKS.

The Detroit News reported Monday that the company plans to halt production of the two vehicles "based on company documents." It gives no other details on the source of its information or a probable time frame for the action.

"We haven't said that," said Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari Monday, when questioned about the report on the vehicles' demise. "That story is built on speculation."

Production at the 126th Street and Torrence Avenue assembly plant will switch to four 10-hour days beginning Sept. 2, when union workers return from a two-week layoff. Gattari said she could not comment on whether it will be one 10-hour shift per day or two shifts daily -- or whether the plant is accepting workers transferring from other plants.

"There are no details of what's happening at each plant," she said. "The company is going through a lot of change. We keep our employees informed."

Ford is engaged in another round of buyouts aimed at reducing its total work force. However, buyouts have not been extended to workers at either the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant of the Ford Chicago Heights Stamping Plant.

The assembly plant employs about 2,200 hourly workers including temporary part-time workers. If union workers are allowed to transfer there from other facilities, which are either closing or cutting jobs, they would displace about 600 temporary part-time workers on a one-to-one basis.

Although they are members of the autoworkers union, the temporary part-timers have no job protection.

Carlo Bishop, president of UAW Local 551, which represents the assembly plant's workers, said he hasn't heard anything officially.

"We have an executive meeting Wednesday," he said. "I may know something after that."