Volvo Cars announces that it will be slashing 3,000 jobs to cut costs

By AP pinch Indrabati Lahiri

Published on 27/05/2025 - 12:44 GMT+2

Sweden-based Volvo Cars is eliminating 3,000 positions arsenic portion of a cost-cutting programme arsenic nan automotive manufacture faces challenges from waste and acquisition tensions and resulting economical uncertainty.

The institution said connected Monday that astir 1,200 of nan occupation reductions would impact workers successful Sweden, while different 1,000 positions presently filled by consultants, mostly successful Sweden, were besides slated for elimination.

The remainder of nan occupation losses would beryllium successful different world markets, said nan firm. Most of nan jobs being trim are agency positions.

“The actions announced coming person been difficult decisions, but they are important steps arsenic we build a stronger and moreover much resilient Volvo Cars,” said Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo Cars president and CEO.

“The automotive manufacture is successful nan mediate of a challenging period. To reside this, we must amended our rate travel procreation and structurally little our costs.”

The company, owned by China’s Geely, has 42,600 full-time employees.

Carmakers astir nan world are facing respective headwinds, among them higher costs for earthy materials, a diminished European car market, and US President Donald Trump’s imposition of 25% tariffs connected imported cars and steel.

Volvo Cars has its main office and merchandise improvement offices successful Gothenburg, Sweden, and makes cars and SUVs successful Belgium, South Carolina and China.

The EV shift

Back successful 2021, Volvo Cars announced that each of its cars would beryllium electrical by nan extremity of nan decade. However, it walked backmost connected this extremity past year, blaming challenging marketplace conditions. EVs made successful China notably faced accrued tariffs erstwhile sent to nan EU and nan US, and customer request was dampened by a deficiency of capable charging infrastructure and a simplification successful authorities incentives.

Volvo Cars is nan latest carmaker to denote occupation cuts, pinch Nissan sharing earlier this period that it would beryllium slashing different 11,000 worldwide. The Japanese car institution will besides adjacent down 7 factories successful an effort to revamp nan business owed to weaker sales.

Nissan has chiefly been deed by dense discounting successful nan US, arsenic good arsenic dropping Chinese sales. A imaginable merger combining Nissan, Mitsubishi and Honda, to create a Japanese "auto ace group" besides fell done recently, further impacting nan company.

This was chiefly owed to disagreements astir nan building of nan projected mixed entity.

Nissan's latest cuts person taken nan wide number of layoffs announced by nan carmaker to 20,000 successful nan past year. That represents astir 15% of its world workforce.

Chinese electrical conveyance (EV) title has besides been heating up intensely complete nan past fewer months, pinch BYD precocious sharing that it would beryllium reducing nan prices of much than 20 of its cars. After BYD's announcement, Leapmotor and Changan besides revealed value reductions.