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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: 2) by Goghit on Wednesday September 11 2024, @05:34PM
Yeah, I think we might be seeing some RIAA accounting or cop math happening. Could be something related to the shitfuckery we see with actual replacement parts when something goes wrong with a BEV - dealer insisting on replacing the whole transaxle for $16k when the problem is two worn bearings at $50 each, or trying to charge more for a new battery pack than the price of a new vehicle. Our BEV is just your basic commuter hatchback shitbox with a bit more room inside than a comparable ICE vehicle. Same telemetry so GM can harvest my data and sell it to insurance companies and other fine upstanding citizens. They didn't completely retool their assembly lines when they started manufacturing these vehicles and start from scratch, handcrafting in a tent.
47,000 manufacturing jobs is a real gut punch but I wonder how many jobs the government could have provided with that money if they'd diverted it to reducing wildfire risk in parks instead of burning it in some Cxx's yacht.
As far as anything manufactured by Stellantis goes, nothing of value has been lost. Stellantis does provide a service though as a black hole of suck, containing all the worst turds in one convenient to avoid location. I grieve for those badges of old.