The cuts continue, leaving workers scarred by the outcomes. Volvo Cars has announced more layoffs for 2025, targeting around 3,000 jobs this time around. The Volvo employees being laid off primarily represent around 15% of the company’s white-collar workforce, which will help the company face the profit slump it reported recently. The reorganization efforts are part of a wider strategy to cut costs and make the organization more resilient.
What do Volvo’s cost-cutting needs have to do with job losses? Unfortunately, cutting down on the workforce has long been one of the quickest ways to bring down company expenses, and we’ve seen this strategy employed more and more over the last two years.
The job cuts at Volvo Cars were expected, as the company recently announced its plans to scale back production at its plants and battery firm. The Chinese-owned business is facing troubling times and is looking to create a leaner organization that can better adapt to changing needs.
A new round of Volvo Cars layoffs have been announced, pointing at continued struggles within the automotive industry. (Image: Freepik)
Volvo Cars Layoffs In 2025 Part of the Company’s Cost and Cash Action Plan
Volvo made its redundancy announcement on its website, indicating that it was part of its cost and cash action plan for the year. The 18 billion Swedish Kronor action plan aims to create a “leaner, more efficient organization with a structurally lower cost base.” The fresh round of Volvo Cars layoffs in 2025 will affect 3,000 white-collar positions across its global operations, but should primarily target office-based positions in Sweden.
Volvo Cars was forthcoming about some details of the employees being laid off, explaining that around 1,000 consultant positions will be cut, and this will occur in Sweden primarily. The rest of the 2,000-strong cuts will be spread across Sweden and the global market. The exact location and number for the rest of the cuts will be determined after a more thorough review followed by a clear plan for the renewed structural set-up.
According to the Volvo redundancy announcement, the business aims to complete these structural changes by autumn 2025. The cost of the restructuring plans has been estimated at SEK 1.5 billion, which is no small number.
Volvo Cars Employees Who Are Laid off Won’t Be the Only Ones Affected
The Volvo Cars 2025 layoffs targeting 3,000 workers may not sound as massive when you compare it to some of the other numbers we’ve seen this year, but 15% of a section of workers is no small change. Those who are let go will be faced with the struggles of finding employment, and those who are left behind will have more on their plates, even if they haven’t necessarily been prepared for the larger role.
“It’s white collar in almost all areas, including R&D, communication, and human resources. So it’s everywhere, and it’s a considerable reduction,” CEO Hakan Samuelsson told Reuters, “I think it will be very healthy and will save us money and give space for people to (take on) bigger responsibilities.” We’re certain that this path to being offered a bigger role in the organization isn’t what employees had in mind, but these are the cards that have been dealt to those who remain.
The Volvo Restructuring News Follows a Long Line of Other Auto Industry Layoffs
Rising tariffs and sinking consumer confidence have a major role to play in the Volvo Cars layoffs in 2025, and as convenient as it would be to blame the company for its shortcomings, the entire industry is in disarray. The Volvo restructuring news isn’t occurring in isolation—Stellantis temporarily laid off over 900 workers earlier this year, Ford cut around 350 software jobs, and Volkswagen is exploring plans to cut its German workforce by 35,000 over five years with many of the changes already underway.
Nissan cut around 20,000 jobs earlier this year and closed several factories to try and bring order back to its business, while General Motors laid off workers at multiple plants due to its strained switch to electric vehicles. Not all auto industry layoffs can be linked to the same underlying circumstances but they do suggest there is a general sense of panic among workers in the auto industry, regardless of whether you work a corporate role or a labor-intensive one.
With sales numbers falling consistently, automakers have no choice but to streamline their business and company goals better, however, it’s the employees who are suffering as a result. Volvo Cars’ global layoff announcement makes mention of the “challenging period” faced by the automotive industry and clears up any doubt that the employee cuts are a necessary evil for its plans to cut costs.
With major automotive companies having announced and started layoffs already, many are optimistic that we may have seen the last cuts in the industry. However, it’s more likely that we will see more restructuring efforts as the year progresses.
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