Stellantis announces mass layoffs in US and Europe

Not a good week to work at Stellantis. The automaker is (finally) moving toward selling EVs in the U.S., just laying off 400 salaried U.S. tech workers and software engineers on Friday. The company announced today that it will cut more than 1,500 jobs in Turin, Italy, citing poor sales of its all-electric Fiat 500e city car.

Last Friday, about 400 nonunion salaried workers in the United States were told to work from home on a “mandatory remote work day,” and all were fired during a remote group video conference. wall street journal. I’ll leave my personal impressions here.

“It was a mass layoff of everyone who was answering the phones,” one mechanical engineer told Fox 2 Detroit. He said the rationale for the job cuts was to move jobs to “low-cost countries,” adding that Stellantis outsourced jobs to India, Mexico and Brazil. Stellantis says that “after a rigorous organizational review,” the layoffs will affect approximately 2% of employees in these divisions. As of the end of last year, Stellantis had a total of 11,800 salaried U.S. employees.

Today, Stellantis added to the situation by announcing that it had reached an agreement with the union to cut approximately 1,500 jobs in Turin, Italy. But it will likely have a softer landing than the U.S. location, since all employees are unionized. Corresponding person.

The historic headquarters of Italy’s Fiat, owned by Stellantis, is in Turin, where up to 1,520 employees, including 300 at the Miafiori factory and 744 employees, will receive voluntary work with financial incentives, according to the UILM union. They say they can get vacation options. , report car news europe.

In January, Stellantis decided to lay off approximately 2,250 employees at its Mirafiori factory, with more than half of the affected employees working on the Fiat 500e, Stellantis’ first all-electric vehicle to be launched in the United States. is involved in the production of “.

At least some Italian buyers are putting off buying electric cars in hopes of government incentives to encourage their adoption, according to a statement from Italian trade unions.

Regarding American workers, Stellantis said: wall street journalThe company says laid-off employees will be provided with a “comprehensive severance package and transition assistance.”

Electrek’s view

Stellantis aims to spend more than $50 billion by the end of this decade on its delayed transition to electric vehicles. The company says it plans to offer eight new EV models in the U.S. by the end of the year and more than 20 by 2030.

And while the company is shifting gears, it hasn’t held back from cutting employees to cut costs. The company announced in December that it planned to cut thousands of jobs at its Jeep factories in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, citing California emissions regulations that put it at a competitive disadvantage. The company recently signed an agreement with the state of California to comply with the state’s stricter emissions policies that require two-thirds of new vehicles to be zero-emission or all-electric by 2030. Donald Trump is back in office and trying to dismantle the policy.

Stellantis’ first EV available in the U.S. is the Fiat 500e, priced at $32,500 plus a $1,595 destination fee (made in Italy, so not eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit). This two-door hatchback is powered by a 118 horsepower electric motor and has a range of 149 miles. Not amazing, but good enough to get around the city. Fiat is clearly targeting upscale urban consumers with money to burn and plenty of parking in the city. And don’t worry about range. But, of course, so far this strategy has not worked very well.