Volvo Cars is cutting approximately three thousand jobs to save costs. The layoffs primarily affect office jobs in its home country of Sweden, reports ANP.
“The automotive industry is in the middle of a challenging period,” said CEO Hakan Samuelsson in an explanation. “To address this, we need to improve our cash flow and structurally reduce our costs.”
Volvo announced at the end of April that layoffs were coming. The quarterly figures were disappointing: fewer cars were sold and profits fell. In addition to the American import duties, the Swedish car manufacturer is suffering from a falling demand for electric cars. According to Samuelsson, lower costs and more production in the United States are the way to deal with the import duties.
The Chinese concern Geely, the owner of Volvo, wants to save more than 1.6 billion euros with the interventions. Cutting three thousand jobs means that about 15 percent of the office staff will be laid off. According to Reuters, Volvo employs a total of 43,500 people.