General Motors lays off around 1,000 employees

On November 16, 2024By Littum

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is laying off about 1,000 workers worldwide, cutting costs as it tries to compete in a crowded global auto market.

The workers, mostly white-collar, were notified of the decisions early Friday. The company confirmed the layoffs in a statement but gave few details.

“We need to optimize for speed and excellence,” the statement said. “This includes working with efficiency, ensuring we have the right team structure and focusing on our top priorities.”

GM and other automakers have been navigating an uncertain transition to electric vehicles both in the U.S. and globally, trying to figure out where to invest capital and how quickly the shift will happen.

The company has had to develop and update gas-powered models while investing in EV batteries and assembly plants, as well as minerals and other parts for the next generation of electric vehicles.

For September, sales of new electric vehicles in the U.S. rose 7.2% to about 936,000, according to Motorintelligence.com. That’s slower growth than the 47% increase in 2023. But EV sales this year are likely to surpass last year’s record of 1.19 million, and the EV share of new vehicle sales this year is 7.9%, up from 7.6% last year.

GM has about 150,000 employees worldwide, with the largest group at its technical center in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan. The company had 76,000 white-collar workers worldwide at the end of last year.

Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said last month that GM is on track to meet its goal of cutting $2 billion in fixed costs by the end of this year.

Last April, about 5,000 GM white-collar workers at General Motors went on strike the company’s buyout offerwhich the automaker said at the time was enough to avoid layoffs.

The company offered buyouts to executives with at least five years of service and global executives who have been with the company for at least two years.

At the time, GM said it could not completely rule out layoffs in the future, saying “involuntary separation is not a consideration at this time.”

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This story has been corrected to say GM had 76,000 white-collar workers at the end of last year.