Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Cars will cut around 1,300 office jobs in Sweden. This corresponds to around six percent of its Swedish workforce. The carmaker employed more than 43,000 people worldwide at the end of last year.
The need for continued action
“Cost measures initiated last year are beginning to show results in some key areas, such as material costs,” said Jim Rowan, the company’s chief executive, in a statement today. “However, it is clear that more needs to be done. Economic challenges, increased raw material prices and intensified competition are likely to persist for some time,” he added.
Volvo Cars said last week it had increased first-quarter sales by almost 30 percent year-on-year to 95.7 billion Swedish kronor (almost 200 billion kronor). But its operating profit fell to 5.1 billion Swedish kronor from six billion a year ago.
The carmaker’s owner
Volvo Cars is now majority-owned by Chinese group Geely, which bought the carmaker in 2010 from US automaker Ford Motor. Volvo Cars floated its shares on the Stockholm stock exchange the previous year.
Last year, Volvo Cars decided to build an electric car plant in eastern Slovakia. The investment is expected to reach 1.2 billion euros (about 28 billion crowns), of which one-fifth is expected to be state support. Construction of the plant is scheduled to start this year, with mass production expected in 2026. The planned capacity of the plant will be up to 250,000 vehicles per year, and the investment is expected to create thousands of jobs in Slovakia.
Source Czech Press Office
