Stellantis blams electric vehicles for the imminent Jeep layoffs

Stellantis, the company behind Fiat and Dodge, has announced it will close one of its factories and lay off 1,200 employees by February. His reasons? His reasons? Shortage of chips– but all the electric cars it has to make.

The plant is currently building Jeep Cherokees in Illinois. This news comes as the automaker prepares to negotiate with unions. Stellantis spokeswoman said that while the UAW claims that “the transition towards electrification also creates possibilities” at the plant. CNBCAnd the The Wall Street JournalInstead, it was the reason for the company to stop. “The most impactful challenge is the increasing cost related to electrifying the auto market,” the company claims, adding that it is exploring other uses for the plant and that it is trying to find jobs for the workers it is laying off.

But let’s go back for a second—one of the world’s largest automakers says it has to shut down a plant indefinitely due to… How much does electricity cost?? This is a bold claim, especially from a company I consider one. in the distant thirdThe three largest American automakers have been in a race for their lineups to be switched from gas to electric. Stellantis has also been promising quite a few electrified Jeeps. It’s hard not to see why this manufacturer could’t play some role in making these vehicles. Scheduled for release next year(And it was difficult to find many of these).

That’s not to say Stellantis isn’t spending big on electric vehicles — it’s promised to split a bill of up to $3 billion with Samsung for a battery plant in Indiana, and it’s With an investment of $4.1 billionLG is the Canadian partner in a similar facility. It’s not a large investment compared to its peers. Spending $7 billionChoose one of them ThreeHonda has electric vehicle battery plants in operation Helping build a $4.4 billion plant in OhioFord announceIt is currently building three EV-related sites at a total cost of $11.4 billion.

Ford’s analogy is interesting, however, as Ford also experienced a recent round in layoffs, resulting in the loss of about 3,000 jobs. There are no prizes for guessing one of the excuses he gave to the staff; “We have an opportunity to lead this exciting new era of connected, electric cars.” Memo from CEO Jim Farley and Chairman Bill Ford. “Building this future will require changing and reshaping almost every aspect of the way we have worked for more than a century.” This, of course, means job cuts.

Although it’s too soon to predict whether electric cars will be a popular scapegoat for the auto industry if they continue to lay off workers in the future, we have at least two companies that are trying to portray the future as the cost of thousands of people’s livelihoods. (The original electric car companies like Rivian and Tesla, which also owned Rivian. Huge toursFrom LayoffsYou don’t have this luxury this year.