The wave of layoffs has swept the car rim, and 2024 has really become the hardest year?

In November last year, Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schaefer said that "2024 is a difficult year, with heavy pressure in several markets and EV orders falling short of expectations." As a result, the Volkswagen brand plans to lay off employees to boost the company's financial outlook. At that time, the horse-drawn carriage market had asserted that the layoff plan similar to the Volkswagen brand was very likely to be carried out simultaneously in the domestic auto market in 2024.

As for the reason, on the one hand, due to the post-epidemic era, affected by the general trend of economic downturn, the vast majority of enterprises are struggling, and "layoffs" seem to be the most direct way; On the other hand, perhaps the more important reason is that the domestic auto market has been fighting a price war for nearly a year, and I am afraid that some people have already been "beaten" to shake their foundations, and layoffs are imperative.

Of course, these are also the predictions made by the horse-drawn carriage city at the end of last year, and we are waiting for time to give an answer to whether the actual situation will continue to develop like this.

However, with the dark horse film "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" on New Year's Day this year, the Internet hot word "layoffs and wide advancement" have been created, and the car circle in 2024 has begun to be uncalm.

The "wave of layoffs" in the car rim hit

Recently, there has been a concentrated outbreak

On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, a netizen who claimed to be an AVATR after-sales employee posted on the Maimai platform that due to the adjustment of the company's structure, AVATR is carrying out a "layoff" Guangjin plan, and 95% of the country's after-sales personnel have been laid off. Later, the person in charge of the AVATR brand responded to refute the rumors, saying that the news was false information, and the truth was that some personnel were transferred and adjusted.

If this response is true, then AVATR will not be the first car company to implement the "layoff and wide entry" plan in 2024. In fact, the "first shot" of the 2024 layoffs in the car circle was actually fired by parts suppliers.

On January 19 this year, the Bosch Group announced that it plans to lay off about 1,200 employees in the software and electronics division by the end of 2026 due to factors such as reduced employment demand in the field of electric vehicles, high inflation and weak economy. On the same day, Valeo announced that it would lay off 1,150 employees worldwide in order to enhance the competitiveness of the organization; On February 20, French auto parts supplier Freya announced that it plans to eliminate up to 10,000 jobs over the next five years in order to cut costs.

Compared with those international auto parts suppliers who took the lead in promoting the "layoff" plan, car companies are relatively restrained. Coupled with the Spring Festival holiday, the entire first quarter of the car industry, especially the domestic car industry, is still a quiet period.

Just when the horse-drawn carriage city thought that our prediction at the end of last year might have deviated from the actual situation, the time has finally come.

On March 23, automotive giant Stellantis Group announced that in view of the unprecedented uncertainty and global competitive pressures that the automotive industry is currently facing, Stellantis will continue to make the necessary structural adjustments across the organization to improve efficiency and optimize the cost structure. According to media reports at the time, the number of layoffs at Stellantis was about 400.

On April 15, shortly after the Stellantis Group announced the layoffs, Tesla CEO Elon Musk issued an all-staff letter, announcing that Tesla would lay off 10% of its global workforce. Stellantis and Tesla have successively announced the launch of layoff plans, which has truly kicked off the layoffs of car companies in 2024.

Entering May, a number of car companies either voluntarily announced or were exposed, and the "layoff and Guangjin" plan was launched.

On May 1, the Volkswagen Group, which has long had a layoff plan, announced that in order to streamline personnel and boost performance, the Volkswagen Group will provide a huge severance bonus of 900 million euros (about 6.985 billion yuan) for employees who choose to leave in advance.

Recently, some media have exposed the news of layoffs of two car companies.

According to 21 financial reports, Li Auto is currently undergoing personnel optimization, and the overall optimization ratio of this round is more than 18%, and the number of employees is expected to exceed 5,600. Among them, the sales and service operation department has been optimized by more than 400 people, the recruitment department has been reduced from more than 200 people to 40 to 50 people, and the intelligent driving team will be reduced to less than 1,000 people.

The car company that was exposed to layoffs at about the same time as Li Auto was Guangqi Honda. According to the Red Star Capital Bureau, it learned from Guangben's internal employees that since May, Guangqi Honda has launched large-scale layoffs in the form of step-by-step notices, and the scale is expected to be thousands of people. Insiders called the layoffs an overall and involved multiple lines. At present, the internal resignation procedure has been initiated, mainly voluntary resignation, there will be corresponding compensation, and many employees have begun to have a physical examination before leaving. The layoffs are expected to continue until August.

In response to the layoffs, Guangqi Honda responded, "In order to ensure the sustainable operation of the company and accelerate the strategic transformation, Guangqi Honda will further improve the efficiency of personnel." The measures include the non-renewal of the first labor contract of some employees in the production field, and the termination of the labor contract through voluntary negotiation. ”

This is still a layoff car company exposed by the media, and Horse-drawn Che City has also seen many car companies that have begun to implement layoffs on platforms such as Zhihu, but they are unconfirmed or just have not yet been exposed.

In short, the news of layoffs from a number of car companies has come out one after another, and if all of them are true, then the recent car industry can be said to be a concentrated outbreak after a quiet period. Not only that, but there are various indications that the targets of this round of "layoffs" may be far more than the above-mentioned car companies that have been exposed.

2024 is a difficult year

Cost reduction or become the main theme of car companies?

The continuous exposure of "layoffs" from car companies objectively confirms the overall prediction of the Volkswagen brand CEO for 2024 last year, and the difficulty of 2024 may be showing up little by little.

As for why 2024 will be the most difficult year in the eyes of Autobots? We have already given our own opinions at the beginning, on the one hand, it is due to the overall economic situation, and on the other hand, it is also related to the price war that began at the beginning of last year and has continued to this day. For some reason, everyone is constantly "rolling", but after the rolling, it is found that the cost is even more obvious.

According to last year's financial reports released by various listed car companies, in 2023, when the price war continues, most car companies will experience a slowdown in profit growth or even a decline. For example, SAIC Group's net profit fell by 12.48% year-on-year last year, GAC Group's net profit decreased by 45.08% year-on-year, and Dongfeng Group's net profit suffered its first loss in ten years.

In terms of new car-making forces, except for Li Auto, which will become the second profitable new energy vehicle company in 2023 after BYD, almost all others are losing money. The net loss of only three new car-making car companies, Weilai, Xpeng Motors and Leapmotor, exceeded 35.7 billion yuan.

You may wonder why Ideal achieved a rare profit last year, but it still can't escape this year's "layoffs"?

Because at present, the importance and necessity of cost reduction for any car company is undoubted. Although the ideal has achieved profitability, it is still a start-up company and a private enterprise after all, and it has to find a way to survive. If you want to live, you need fresh flowing blood, and its source also needs living water.

For other car companies whose profit growth is slowing down, or even losing money, it is even more urgent to reduce costs, and it is imperative. So in this difficult year, is it the best way to lay off employees? Will it really become the main theme of car companies this year?

Whether it is the best way, we can't say for sure, but from the current situation, from the continuous price war, to the increasingly fierce market competition environment, from the gross profit margin of car companies to the actual monthly sales situation, everything seems to prove that "layoffs and wide advance" will most likely become the main theme of car companies this year.

Ma said:

Objectively speaking, layoffs for car companies, and even any enterprise, is the normal operation mechanism of the enterprise, from the management and business logic, employees have in and out, one side can reduce fixed costs, on the other hand, it also helps to bring fresh blood and vitality to the enterprise, which is conducive to the sustainable operation and development of the enterprise to a certain extent.

For those employees who have been affected by the "layoff and wide entry" plan, it may seem a little helpless, even a sad story. In addition to sympathizing with these employees, the city also hopes to give them some encouragement, as long as it is not the reason for your own lack of hard work, maybe it is only related to luck, then you don't have to be too annoyed, after all, Seon lost his horse, how to know if it is a blessing!