Luxury automaker Volvo is slashing 3,000 jobs, representing about 15% of the company’s office-based workforce.
The announcement made Monday says the most impacted positions are in Sweden. The mostly white-collar job cuts are part of the company’s “recently launched cost and cash action plan,” according to a media release.
The layoffs come as the Swedish automaker tries to resurrect its plummeting share price and drum up better demand for its cars by restructuring part of its business and cutting costs.
“The automotive industry is in the middle of a challenging period,” Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo Cars President and CEO, said in a statement. “To address this, we must improve our cash flow generation and structurally lower our costs. At the same time, we will continue to ensure the development of the talent we need for our ambitious future.”
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With most of its production based in Europe and China, Volvo Cars is more exposed to new U.S. tariffs than many of its European rivals, and has said it could become impossible to export its most affordable cars to the U.S.
On Friday, President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on imports from the European Union from June 1, but on Monday he backed away from that date, restoring a July 9 deadline to allow for talks between Washington and Brussels.
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Volvo Cars’ shares were up 3.6% by Monday, Reuters reported, with most of the rise coming before the layoff announcement. They are still down 24% year-to-date.
In 2024, Volvo had over 44,000 employees globally, according to Reuters. Roughly 20,000 were white-collar workers. The automaker expects to incur a one-time restructuring cost of 1.5 billion crowns.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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