Stellantis is blaming EVs for its upcoming Jeep layoffs

Stellantis, the corporate behind Fiat, Dodge, and Jeep, has introduced that it plans to halt one among its crops and lay off 1,200 employees come February. Its reasoning? Stress from COVID-19, certain, together with a splash of chip shortages — however primarily all these electrical autos it has to make.

The manufacturing unit in query is one which builds Jeep Cherokees in Illinois, and the information comes because the automaker is gearing up for union negotiations. Whereas United Auto Employees argues that “the transition to electrification additionally creates alternatives” on the plant, an unnamed Stellantis spokesperson instructed CNBC and The Wall Road Journal that it was as an alternative the rationale for the halt. “Probably the most impactful problem is the growing value associated to the electrification of the automotive market,” the corporate claims, including that it’s exploring different makes use of for the plant, and that it’s looking for jobs for the employees it’s shedding.

However let’s again up for a second — one of many world’s largest automakers is saying it has to shutter a plant indefinitely due to how a lot electrification is costing? That’s a daring declare, particularly because it’s coming from an organization I’d take into account to be in distant third within the large three American automakers’ race to maneuver their lineups from fuel to batteries. It additionally doesn’t assist that Stellantis has been promising fairly a couple of electrified Jeeps, and it’s exhausting to see why this manufacturing unit couldn’t play a task in making these autos, no less than one among which is due out subsequent yr (and plenty of of which have been very tough to seek out).

This isn’t to say that Stellantis isn’t spending large on EVs — it’s promised to separate an as much as $3 billion invoice with Samsung for a battery manufacturing unit in Indiana, and it’s investing $4.1 billion in the same facility situated in Canada, this time with LG. However that’s not an unthinkably massive funding in comparison with a few of its friends: GM is spending a whopping $7 billion on one among its three EV battery factories within the works, Honda’s serving to construct a $4.4 billion plant in Ohio (and spending $700 million extra to retool present services), and Ford has introduced it’s constructing three EV-related places with a price ticket of over $11.4 billion.

Ford’s an fascinating comparability, although, as a result of it additionally went by means of a current spherical of layoffs, slicing round 3,000 jobs. No prizes for guessing one of many excuses it gave staff; “Now we have a possibility to guide this thrilling new period of linked and electrical autos,” learn a memo from CEO Jim Farley and chairman Invoice Ford. “Constructing this future requires altering and reshaping just about all elements of the best way we’ve got operated for greater than a century.” That, in fact, meant slicing jobs.

It’s too early to say whether or not EVs are going to turn into a standard scapegoat if the auto trade retains finishing up layoffs, however now we’ve got no less than two firms attempting to color hundreds of peoples’ livelihoods as the price of the long run. (EV-native firms like Tesla or Rivian, which have additionally had their very own huge rounds of layoffs this yr, don’t have that luxurious.)