Stellantis offers buyouts to certain salaried employees in tech transformation move

Another Detroit Three automaker has announced workforce reduction plans amid transformations toward cleaner, more technology-packed vehicles.

Jeep maker Stellantis NV on Friday said it has offered certain salaried U.S. employees a voluntary separation package as a part of its “transformation to become a sustainable tech mobility company and the market leader in low-emissions vehicles,” spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in a statement.

Eligible employees include those who are 55 or older and have been with the company at least 10 years. Employees who have 30 years of service with a pension also are qualified.

Tinson added that the employees have been offered a “favorable package of benefits that otherwise would not be available to them.” The automaker said it isn’t providing further details at this time, including how many of its 13,000 U.S. salaried employees received the offer. The deadline to accept is Dec. 5, with employment lasting through the end of the year.

The buyouts come after Ford Motor Co. in August said it was eliminating 3,000 jobs, including 1,000 contractors, mostly in Metro Detroit to cut costs and be more competitive. Stellantis also offered a buyout late last year that more than 330 retirement-eligible workers took.

The transatlantic merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and French rival Groupe PSA seeks to catch up to the competition in the transition to alternative fuels. Stellantis says it will invest $35.5 billion into plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles and their software by 2025 and expects EVs to represents up to 53% of sales by 2030. The automaker will launch its first EV in the United States, the Ram ProMaster commercial van, next year.

But EVs cost more to make than their internal combustion engine counterparts by as much as 50%, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has said. That means the automaker is looking to where it can reduce costs to make up the difference to keep vehicles affordable.

Stellantis will reports third-quarter revenues and shipments on Thursday.