Posted on 03/23/2024 5:19:49 AM PDT by bert
Stellantis continues trimming its workforce as it focuses on electric vehicle production in the US
Stellantis, the parent company of several auto brands, including Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, confirmed on Friday that it will be laying off hundreds more U.S. workers as it continues to trim its workforce amid its transition to electric vehicle production.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the automaker had instructed several white collar employees working in software, engineering and technology to work from home on Friday morning, and then held meetings where the workers were informed that they were losing their jobs.
Around 400 people were let go in the latest layoff round, the Journal reported, citing internal Stellantis documents viewed by the newspaper.
The automaker confirmed the layoffs when reached by FOX Business for comment.
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"After rigorous organizational reviews, Stellantis confirms that we will reduce our engineering/technology and software organizations by about 2% in the U.S.," the company's statement read. "These reductions will be effective on March 31, 2024. Stellantis will offer support for those affected including a comprehensive separation package and transition assistance."
The company added, "While we understand this is difficult news, these actions will better align resources while preserving the critical skills needed to protect our competitive advantage as we remain laser focused on implementing our EV product offensive and our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan."
DODGE ANNOUNCES FIRST ELECTRIC MUSCLE CAR IN CHARGER LINEUP
Stellantis' "Dare Forward 2030" strategy includes the launch of eight new EVs.
The company has held multiple rounds of layoffs over the past year and offered voluntary buyouts to more than half its 12,700 salaried employees in the U.S. last year in a move to cut costs as it moves its focus to EVs and takes on increased costs from its new contract with the United Auto Wokers union.
Dealers around the country are holding in excess of 300 days of sales in inventory. The Stellantis Ram Trucks, Jeeps and especially Dodge Chargers and Challengers can't be sold. Dealers are drowning in a sea of unsalable Stellantis vehicles.
The truth is there is no real EV sqales prospect. A Dodge Carger EV that provides salvation isn't a reality.
Firing the engineering department is like eating seed corn.
Firing the engineering department sounds like an admission that the company doesn’t expect to be around to sell a new generation of cars and trucks.
All of them are UAW members so who cares?
The UAW needs to die.
Disgusting. Companies used to only lay off employees because they were losing badly in the marketplace and simply could not keep up anymore. There was no other choice when it happened in the past.
Now “human resources” are dropped by the managerial mba class just because they decide to change car models, offshore, etc.
And they moan that nobody is loyal anymore.
BETA BOYS DON’t WANT MUSCLE CARS!
> Several reasons are given for the lay offs of mechanical engineers but the real reason is unsold cars and trucks. <
The average new car transaction price in the United States is around $49,000. And because of the new UAW contract, I don’t see that price going down.
So like millions of others, I’ll just be hanging on to my old car and making repairs as necessary. Until I hit the Powerball jackpot, of course.
The new UAW contract coming to fruition. The union didn’t think too far ahead and let greed overcome common sense. What they are reaping is no jobs rather than good jobs.
Rather than repairs, think maintenance
All of the Stellantis companies have a problem with quality - none of them make reliable vehicles. Add that to soaring increases in the price of their vehicles and you have a real sales problem. Now Stellantis management wants to fix their sales problem by transitioning to electric vehicles, something consumers have demonstrated they don’t want. I predict a Stellantis bankruptcy and/or massive sell offs of their car divisions. This is car marketing insanity and has no potential for success.
Ahh...but the economy is doing much better now than it was under Trump...
“…that it will be laying off hundreds more U.S. workers as it continues to trim its workforce amid its transition to electric vehicle production.“
This is being forced. There is no demand for this and yet billion dollar companies are acting like it’s the wave of the future. Oddly however this new thing doesn’t require workers. None of this is going to end well and it’s hard to believe that things aren’t going terminal as we speak. This is stupid.
"Stellantis is a European company. EV sales grew by over 60% in Europe last year. Stellantis is doing what they need to do to compete in their home market of Europe. And they must be doing something right: their net income in 2023 was more than Ford and GM combined."
I don’t think engineers belong to the UAW, they are “white collar” workers, but sad anyhow. Better they look to medical device engineering jobs. The Dodges I loved as a teenager is COLOR IT GONE!
My husband drives a Dodge truck, a 2024. It is a nice truck. He switched over from Ford in 2020 while waiting for Ford to fill his order which never happened. Due to some part Ford couldn’t get its hands on.
Don’t worry. The demento dildo in the White Hut and his Zero G and Millennium advisors have a plan. They are just trying to figure out what it is.
> There is no demand for this [EVs] and yet billion dollar companies are acting like it’s the wave of the future. <
I wonder if the fix is in.
Democrats: “After we win (cheat to win) in November, we’ll kick the EPA into high gear. The EPA will close thousands of gas stations for made-up code violations. Plus we’ll add all sorts environmental taxes to those gas-guzzlers. People will be forced to go with EVs.”
This will be a complete disaster. But even well-meaning liberals never think ahead.
Europe is vastly different from the US in population density,attitude,geography,etc.
One size fits all never really works.
Un-possible, the economy is booming.
It is bizarre that auto companies are in massive layoffs while proclaiming that is required by the shift to EVs. That makes no sense. You would need to INCREASE engineering and manufacturing if you are going to develop a brand new drivetrain line and sustain the ICE line.
All of these upheavals are caused by the insane greeniacs. Now the EPA has effectively outlawed ICE cars with impossible emission standards.
“Firing the engineering department is like eating seed corn.”
I just listened to an unnamed mechanical engineer who was laid off from Stalantis yesterday. He said the company was outsourcing its engineering to India and other offshore destinations. That’s a very real prospect and India, China and other nations have been graduating an ever-increasing number of engineers. Many of those engineers are trained right here. You can live a middle-class lifestyle in Mumbai for a fraction of the same lifestyle in the US.
I watched a car guy blog, and the presenter went from car to car in a Stalantis lot showing the price stickers. Their cheapest Jeep SUV was in the low forties, which he said was not competitive with the CRV and other similar footprint cars. The lot he showed as stuffed with vehicles. The trucks were in the seventy to a hundred-thousand-dollar class.
I remember when Studebaker was on the ropes (’cause I’m that old) and the lots were full of cars because no one wanted a car where the manufacturer and dealers wouldn’t be around. I think that plays into the problem they’re having now. Especially when the company is talking about going electric which not even Greenies believe will happen. (The Biden administration is way behind the curve on this one. Politics. What can I say?)
Another problem is, I don’t think people actually want five hundred horsepower cars. I was at a car club meeting in March at the local Ford dealer. Their rep, a super-Ford-pumper guy mentioned they hadn’t sold a Mustang since December. He went on to point at the row of five hundred horsepower cars saying, “the average Mustang has never been so powerful. I don’t understand.” The guys in the club with ultra-high horsepower cars don’t, on average, daily drive them. They aren’t practical. Someone in marketing has f’d up big time. Same thing with Stalantis and their Hemi’s. Probably the average buyer is in his forties, has a family and can’t afford an occasional driver car. If you walk across the lot that’s mostly what they have on sale. The ones that are daily drivers are overpriced for what they are.
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