Car maker Volvo plans to cut around 3,000 office jobs
FRANKFURT: Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Cars plans to cut thousands of administrative jobs as part of cost-cutting measures, the firm announced on Monday, reported German news agency dpa.
A total of 3,000 jobs will be lost worldwide, according to the Gothenburg-based company, which is controlled by the Chinese Geely Group.
The figure represents around 15% of all office-based jobs, with the majority of these in Sweden.
In a statement, in which he announced talks with unions, Volvo chief executive Hakan Samuelsson said some tough decisions had to be made.
'The automotive industry is in the midst of a difficult phase,' he said. In order to overcome this, costs must be reduced structurally.
Volvo announced at the end of April, when it reported weak first-quarter figures, that jobs would be cut and that a total of 18 billion Swedish kronor (just under US$1.9 billion) would be saved through other measures.
The package will initially involve special costs of around 1.5 billion kronor, which will be booked in the second quarter.
Volvo focused early on pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and has suffered from high costs for battery materials in recent years.
Samuelsson, who had previously led Volvo for many years, took over the helm again at the beginning of April after former boss Jim Rowan was suddenly forced to leave.
Recently, the sales environment has become tougher and the company is currently unable to provide a detailed financial forecast due to uncertainty over US tariffs.
The company will also focus more strongly on plug-in hybrids in the future because its ramp-up of pure electric cars has stalled.
In the first quarter, the share of pure electric cars at Volvo was 19 per cent, two percentage points lower than a year earlier.
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