UPDATE: A GM spokesperson told Motor1.com: "We are not confirming specific locations or a specific number – except to say that this affects a relatively small number of salaried employees and executives. GM has 81,000 salaried employees worldwide."
General Motors is eliminating around 500 executives and salary jobs worldwide, according to information obtained by The Detroit News. It's not clear how many of these positions are in the United States. Motor1.com reached out to GM for more details.
"Today’s action follows our most recent performance calibration and supports managing the attrition curve as part of our overall structural costs reduction effort," spokesman David Barnas said in a statement to The Detroit News. "This action impacts a small number of salaried employees and executives globally."
In 2022, GM posted record earnings of $14.5 billion. At the same time it announced the financial results, the company said it was going to cut $2 billion in costs in the next two years. Thirty to fifty percent of the reduction would happen in 2023.
"I want to be clear: We're not planning layoffs," GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said about the plan at the time. "We're looking at hiring the only most strategically important roles, and we will use attrition to help manage our overall headcount."
The new plan to eliminate the execs and salaried workers might suggest the company is exploring other strategies to reduce the workforce.
GM is predicting revenue to fall in 2023. It's expecting the figure to be between $10.5 billion and $12.5 billion.
The automaker plans to make EVs a major part of the business going forward. "We are accelerating production of the Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Hummer EV, and BrightDrop Zevo 600, and we will launch exciting vehicles like the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Blazer EV, and Equinox EV," company CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders.
GM says that it has enough raw material to build more than a million EVs a year starting in 2025. It also has an agreement with the company Lithium Americas to source the element from the Thacker Pass in Nevada.
