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A multinational automaker prepared to lay off more than 2,000 American workers in August after benefiting handsomely from the Biden administration's subsidies for electric-vehicle production:
Stellantis, the parent company to famous brands like Ram and Jeep, has been awarded hundreds of millions in grants from the federal government to promote its EV manufacturing. But the Biden administration's largesse has not prevented the company from laying off American workers.
In July, the Department of Energy awarded Stellantis subsidiary Chrysler a $334.8 million grant to convert a shuttered Illinois plant into a facility for building EVs and another $250 million grant to make a ...(aaaand, paywall)
The AP ran a story a few weeks ago foreshadowing this action:
The statement comes as the company faces increased capital spending to make the transition from gasoline vehicles to electric autos. It also has reported declining U.S. sales in the first quarter, and it has higher costs due to a new contract agreement reached last year with the United Auto Workers union. Stellantis has about 43,000 factory workers.
[...] Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has said his company has to work on cutting costs globally in order to keep electric vehicles affordable for the middle class. Electric vehicles, he has said, cost about 40% more than those powered by gasoline. Without cost reductions, EVs will be too expensive for the middle class, shrinking the market and driving costs up more, Tavares has said.
I've been working on cars for most of my life and my observation is Chrysler/Ram are the worst vehicles on the road. I also own two Jeeps that are 50+ years old, however Chrysler has ruined the Jeep name by what I assume is cutting corners to save money because they're poorly designed and flimsy. Interesting the powers that be at Stellantis don't seem to be concerned about these issues.
Previously: Chrysler to Go All-Electric by 2028, Starting with the Airflow in 2025
Related:
• General Motors Lays Off Hundreds Of US Workers
• Tesla Lays Off 'More Than 10%' of its Global Workforce
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2024, @11:25AM (3 children)
> amortise the cost of the battery over the vehicle's lifetime
Have you thought this through? Consider:
Most vehicles have more than one owner, and (at least personally), I don't want to buy a used car that has any sort of 3rd party deals attached.
Vehicle lifetime is quite variable, with some short (totaled in a crash), some due to rust (regional) and some very long.
Many are leased, with the monthly lease amount heavily dependent on the value of the vehicle at the end of the lease. There have also been separate battery lease deals, but then you have two monthly payments to make.
At the present time, BEVs* depreciate much faster than ICE vehicles (* except Tesla, but that may be changing?)
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday September 11 2024, @04:07PM (2 children)
If your choice is between a vehicle that is so encumbered, or no vehicle, which will you choose?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 12 2024, @03:47AM (1 child)
There is a third choice, although you are attempting to set up a scenario where there isn't a 3rd choice. It's very simple, in my case, I keep the car(s) I have already.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Nuke on Thursday September 12 2024, @09:35AM
Not so easy in the UK.
We have an annual roadworthiness test which is extremely fussy, and they look very hard at an older car and fail it for a spot of rust. They government and cetain local authorities are also trying to price older cars off the road on the pretext of greater emissionse (may be true per km, but it depends how many you do). On top of that the EU is banning the sale of spare parts that can keep older cars going, and although the UK is not in the EU there will be an effect because Mercedes, Fiat etc will stop making spares for their older models, and the UK's own car industry has been destroyed.