Stellantis lays off about 400 salaried workers

Jeep maker Stellantis is laying off about 400 white-collar workers in the U.S. as it deals with the transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles.

The company formed in the 2021 merger between PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler said the workers are mainly in engineering, technology and software at the headquarters and technical center in Auburn Hills, Michigan, north of Detroit. Affected workers were being notified starting Friday morning.

“As the auto industry continues to face unprecedented uncertainties and heightened competitive pressures around the world, Stellantis continues to make the appropriate structural decisions across the enterprise to improve efficiency and optimize our cost structure,” the company said in a prepared statement Friday.

The cuts, effective March 31, amount to about 2% of Stellantis’ global workforce in engineering, technology and software, the statement said. Workers will get a separation package and transition help, the company said.

“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,” the statement said.

CEO Carlos Tavares repeatedly has said that electric vehicles cost 40% more to make than those that run on gasoline, and that the company will have to cut costs to make EVs affordable for the middle class. He has said the company is continually looking for ways to be more efficient.

U.S. electric vehicle sales grew 47% last year to a record 1.19 million as EV market share rose from 5.8% in 2022 to 7.6%. But sales growth slowed toward the end of the year. In December, they rose 34%.