It’s not good news out of Detroit for General Motors employees with news of 14,000 job losses today. The company plans to save 6 billion USD by the end of 2020 via shutting multiple assembly and engine making plants across the world. The staff cuts amount to 15 per cent of the total workforce, with a 25 per cent cut in executives.
The transformation is in large part due to the rise of electric and autonomous vehicles. GM plan to double resources allocated to electric and autonomous vehicles over the next two years. It plans to expand the use of virtual tools to lower development time and expenses. Plus, there will be an overall compression of its global development teams.
“The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable, while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future,” said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success.”
GM states that it has invested heavily in newer, efficient vehicle platforms across its trucks, crossovers and SUV’s. Now it is turning its focus towards next-generation battery-electric architectures.
