Sweden-based automaker Volvo Cars said it is eliminating 3,000 white-collar jobs at operations around the world as the automotive industry faces supply chain and tariff-related disruptions.
The layoffs represent around 15% of Volvo Cars’ office staff, with about 2,200 job losses expected to occur in Sweden and the rest in the company’s global operations.
Volvo Cars has not said where the other workforce reductions will take place.
The job cuts announced Monday are part of a $1.88 billion action plan to bolster the company’s long-term profitability, officials said.
“The automotive industry is in the middle of a challenging period,” Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars, said in a news release. “To address this, we must improve our cash flow generation and structurally lower our costs.”
Volvo Cars said the layoffs will be completed by the end of fall.
As of the first quarter, the automaker had 42,600 full-time employees, with white-collar staff making up more than 40% of its workforce, according to its earnings report.
Volvo Cars’ head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg.
The company’s car production plants are in Gothenburg; Ghent, Belgium; Charleston, South Carolina; and Chengdu, Daqing and Taizhou, China.
The company also has research and development and design centers in Gothenburg and Shanghai.
The latest round of layoffs comes after Volvo announced plans to eliminate 5% of its workforce, about 125 workers, at the Charleston factory, according to Reuters. The factory produces the company’s EX90 SUV.
Volvo Cars is majority-owned by China’s Geely Holding. It was sold by Ford Motor Co. to Geely in 2010 for $1.8 billion.
Volvo Cars and Volvo Trucks North America are separate entities.
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