A major American auto manufacturer reportedly laid off about 1,000 of its employees on Monday, including about 600 workers based in the U.S. in a bid to streamline current operations.
General Motors (GM) is making cuts in its software and services business, which was recently put under the command of two former Apple executives in a partial retreat from a hiring spree over the last several years, according to The Wall Street Journal. Monday’s layoffs stand as the most recent job cuts at GM, which reached buyout agreements with approximately 5,000 salaried employees in 2023 as part of a cost-cutting effort and got rid of several hundred executive positions in February of that year, according to Reuters.
“As we build GM’s future, we must simplify for speed and excellence, make bold choices, and prioritize the investments that will have the greatest impact. As a result, we’re reducing certain teams within the Software and Services organization,” a spokesperson for GM said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We are grateful to those who helped establish a strong foundation that positions GM to lead moving forward.”
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The layoffs are not related to a specific cost-reduction initiative but are instead a result of the company leadership’s review of the business and an effort to find more opportunities for efficiency, a GM spokesperson told the DCNF. Monday’s job cuts followed a decision by the two new GM executives from Apple, Baris Cetinok and Dave Richardson, to streamline the service and software business, sources familiar with the matter told the WSJ.
The spokesperson could not comment as to how many jobs were affected by Monday’s actions but said that around 600 jobs would be affected at the company’s global technical center in Warren, Michigan.
GM had made an effort to hire thousands of employees to work in its software and services business in recent years with an eye toward making their vehicles smarter and easier to update like smartphones, according to the WSJ. That push is partially motivated by expanding revenue streams by allowing consumers to pay for new updates and services, as well as an effort to compete with rival brands like Tesla, which have taken an early lead in using software updates to enhance vehicle performance.
Other major automakers have also cut jobs in recent months, with Tesla announcing in April that it would be laying off about 10% of its global workforce and Ford moving to cut about 2,300 jobs in March. Stellantis, one of America’s “Big Three” manufacturers along with Ford and GM, said earlier this month that it is laying off nearly 2,500 of its workers in Michigan after cutting several hundred jobs in March.
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