Stellantis is about to lay off 1,350 employees in the US, blaming the cost of electric vehicles.
Jeep parent company Stellantis said it will indefinitely close its plant in Illinois, US, and lay off about 1,350 employees early next year. This complex, located in Belvidere, 120 km from Chicago, in particular, produces an internal combustion engine for the Jeep Cherokee crossover. In a statement given to Reuters, the manufacturer attributed the decision to the cost of electrifying its vehicles.
Stellantis is going to lay off 1350 employees in the US
“[The automotive industry] has already been hit hard by a variety of factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the global chip shortage, but the biggest challenge is the ever-increasing costs associated with electrifying the automotive market,” it said. — said the company, adding that the complex may even close forever.
United Auto Workers Local 1268 President Tim Ferguson told Reuters company documents show Stellantis intends to move Cherokee production to a plant in Toluca, Mexico. “For me, it’s nothing at all,” he says. “Their plan is to close this factory.”Stellaantis declined to comment on Tim Ferguson’s accusations. “We will not comment on the future of Cherokee,”the company said.
and blame it on the cost of electric vehicles
As The Verge clarifies, Stellantis is not the first automaker to point fingers at electric vehicles due to recent layoffs. In August, Ford laid off about 3,000 employees. “We have the opportunity to lead this exciting new era of electric and connected vehicles,” the brand said at the time. “In order to build that future, virtually every aspect of what we’ve been doing for over a century needs to change and change.”
Note that this announcement was made on the same day that workers at the General Motors-LG battery plant in Ohio decided to unionize. Unions in France, Italy, Canada and elsewhere around the world recently called on Stellantis to raise wages by 8.5% after a year of record inflation. In the third quarter of 2022, Stellantis’ revenue grew by $42.1 billion, up 29% year-over-year.