Car brand now owned by Chinese company to axe 3k jobs amid 'challenging period'

Cars has announced it is cutting around 3,000 jobs, with its chief executive saying the industry is in a "challenging period". President 's 25% tariffs on imported cars, increasing materials costs and slow sales in Europe are all impacting the automotive industry.

The -based Volvo Cars, owned by Chinese company Geely Holding, said it must "structurally lower costs" in response to the market tensions. The company says the layoffs will mainly impact office-based positions in Sweden, representing around 15% of its white collar workforce globally. Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars, said: "The actions announced today have been difficult decisions, but they are important steps as we build a stronger and even more resilient Volvo Cars.

"The automotive industry is in the middle of a challenging period. To address this, we must improve our cash flow generation and structurally lower our costs."

Around 1,200 of the job reductions are likely to come among workers in where Volvo Cars has its headquarters, The reports, while another 1,000 positions currently filled by consultants, mostly in , are also set to be axed.

The remaining redundancies will be in other global markets, the company said in a .

Staff at Volvo Cars' major production plants in Sweden, Belgium, China and the are not believed to be affected by the cuts.

"The specific number of job reductions across all regions will be determined over the coming period, once the company has finalised a review of its entire organisation and determined a new structural set-up," Volvo Cars said, adding it hopes to complete structural changes during the autumn.

Volvo Cars said it expects to incur a one-time restructuring cost of 1.5 billion Swedish kronor (around £115 million).

It comes after the company announced plans last month to cut costs by 18 billion kronor (approximately £1.4 billion).

The company's global sales for April fell by 11% compared to the same period last year.

Volvo Cars, founded in Gothenburg, , in 1927, had around 42,600 full-time employees as of December 2024.

The car maker has plans for all of its vehicles to be electric by 2030.