Layoffs are back in the news (it never left)! This time we have something different because it isn’t a software company or service or gaming company. It’s actually an EV manufacture. EVs are having a rough go of it for many reasons. The biggest one is that EVs are pretty expensive. Couple that with range anxiety and not many people are going to buy one. And Polestar is feeling it.
Polestar has announced that it will be cutting the size of its staff down by 15% around the world. This will leave about 450 people without a job. The Swedish EV maker attributed this move to “challenging market conditions.” This is while the company did see global car deliveries go up by 6% compared to 2022 in Q4.
Polestar did let it be known that there were going to be layoffs coming as early as May 2023. This happened when they missed production goals by 10,000 20,000 cars. It stood by its decision by saying it was “intensifying its focus” with cost cutting which should make the business more efficient.
Even with that hitch, the Polestar 2 is doing fairly well. The issue they have now is competing with companies like Tesla who sell cars similar to Polestar but $10,000 less.
While I’m only writing about Polestar now, the EV market has been less than stellar across the board. Lucid Motors had to cut 18% of its staff last year and Rivian cut 6%.
Once I can properly be in the market again for a car, I’d like to try and help out with these companies. In an ideal world, I’d buy from them before I’d buy from Tesla. However, given that a lot of these companies are sourcing material out of the DRC, I may not be buying a car for a long, long time.
Source: Engadget
