INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
General Motors has offered voluntary buyouts to 18,000 salaried employees in North America who have at least 12 years of experience, as the
automaker looks to cut costs all while investing in its electric and autonomous future.
The company has described this as a proactive
measure aimed at preparing for coming headwinds such as slow sales in North America and China, commodity prices and tariffs.
But it just as
much about preparing for the future
The company has been undergoing a transformation over the past four to five years, ditching expensive, money-losing programs like the Opel
brand in Europe, and investing more into electrification and autonomous vehicle technology.
And it not wasting any time.
GM is giving these
employees until November 19 to decide whether they&ll take the buyout offer
Those who accept will receive severance beginning February 1, 2019.
About 36 percent of the company 50,000 employees in North America are
A GM spokesman declined to say how many employees it expected to take the buyout, except to predict that it was unlikely the number would be
anywhere close to 18,000.
GM has been on a three-year $6.5 billion cost-cutting mission that it expects to hit by the end of the year
GM CFODhivya Suryadevara said in the company earnings call Wednesday that GM had made $6.3 billion in cost-saving measures as of the end of
the third quarter.
GM cost-cutting measures have happened in parallel with its investments and commitments to electrification and autonomous
GM acquired Cruise Automation for $1 billion in 2016
Earlier this year, the automaker said it would invest another $1.1 billion into its self-driving unit as part of a bigger deal with SoftBank
Cruise Holdings has said it will launch a commercial autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service in 2019.
It has also focused on hiring more
software engineers, and will continue to add those kinds of jobs even as the buyouts begin, according to GM.
GM plan is to launch 20 new
all-electric vehicles globally by 2023 and increase production of the Chevy Bolt
At an event in September, GM chairman and CEOMary Barrasaid the company ispoised to build more all-electric vehicles as improvements
continue at its recently expanded battery lab and a new LG Electronics plant in Michigan comes online.
The LG Electronics facility in Hazel
Park willstart making battery packs this fall to supply GM Orion Assembly Plant, where the automaker builds the all-electricChevroletBolt.
