What major events have happened in the automobile industry at home and abroad this week? Details of Tesla’s layoffs were revealed.
On April 15, Tesla sent an email to all employees announcing that he would cut 10 per cent of staff worldwide.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk stressed in the letter: “from all aspects of the company, to reduce costs and improve productivity is extremely important.
” Subsequently, according to foreign media reports, since Tesla announced that he would cut 10% of his staff worldwide, many factories and offices around the world have implemented specific layoffs one after another.
Photo: Tesla Tesla said in a legal notice that 285 jobs will be laid off in Buffalo New York from July 15 for “economic” reasons.
Tesla employs a total of 2032 people at his two offices in Buffalo, and the layoffs account for about 14% of the local workforce.
In addition, Tesla plans to lay off 300 temporary workers at his German factory, which will begin on April 22nd, according to people familiar with the matter.
It is reported that Tesla’s German factory employs a total of about 12500 employees.
Layoffs have also begun in the United States.
In addition to the front desk staff and sales staff of the service center, the engineers were also not spared.
Tesla, a project manager in California, posted a spreadsheet on LinkedIn with more than 140 employees, most of them engineers, who have been fired and are looking for new jobs.
In China, according to a person familiar with the matter, Tesla’s layoffs also involve many departments, and the proportion of layoffs is far more than the 10% that Musk said.
Some departments will be optimized by 30% to 40%, and the proportion of layoffs in individual departments will be as high as 50%.
Other departments are generally around 20%.
It is reported that the sales department is the hardest hit by layoffs.
“Tesla is streamlining the sales and delivery system, which has become ‘complex and inefficient’,” Tesla CEO Musk said on social media platform X at 3am Beijing time on April 17.
However, it is worth mentioning that Tesla compensates employees who have been laid off in strict accordance with the standard of “Niss3”, while employees who have been employed for less than half a year are compensated according to “0.5N+3”. Because Tesla’s basic salary is relatively high, the final compensation is about 40-50, 000 yuan.
Some Tesla employees who were laid off confirmed to Global Automotive that they had joined Tesla for only three months and eventually received a compensation of 44000 yuan.
And Tesla layoffs are particularly fast, from the news of layoffs to the completion of the departure procedures is very short, some employees revealed that it only took 5 minutes from being called to the office to complete the formalities.
In addition, it is reported that Tesla’s wave of massive layoffs has also spread to the Shanghai super factory, where employees have received official e-mails, but sources say the Shanghai factory will only lay off “dozens of people”.
, Earth comments: Tesla layoffs, is it a helpless move or “hold back a big move”? Bosch hopes to further cut costs and promote restructuring.
On April 18, at Bosch’s annual news conference, Bosch announced that in fiscal year 2023, despite the adverse economic situation and market environment, Bosch still achieved sales of 91.
6 billion euros, an increase of 3.
8% and 8% after adjusting the exchange rate.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) were 4.
8 billion euros (3.
8 billion euros in fiscal year 2022).
The profit margin before interest and tax was 5.
3 per cent, up 1 per cent from the previous year.
Even if the increase is higher than expected, it is still below the long-term profit margin target of at least 7 per cent.
Bosch plans to achieve this goal by 2026.
We need to maintain high profitability and financial strength to achieve our growth target as much as possible through self-financing. ” Dr. Markus Forschner, a board member and chief financial officer of the Bosch Group, said, “the sprint at the end of 2023 has enabled us to achieve our full-year goals.
However, the challenge for fiscal year 2024 will not be reduced, and it will be no less difficult than in 2023.
” According to official figures, Bosch group sales fell 0.
8% in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier, and increased by 2.
7% after adjusting for exchange rate effects.
“from this we can see that our sales growth target of 5% to 7% this year is very challenging.” Dr. Forschner also said that it will not be easy to further improve EBIT margins on the basis of last year.
“We not only need to deal with the depressed market environment, but also have to face the challenges of investing in strategic areas.
At the same time, structural restructuring and process optimization will also have a negative impact in the initial stage, while the positive impact will gradually become apparent after a period of time.
” In addition, Bosch hopes to further cut costs and promote restructuring in order to remain competitive during the transition period.
Dr Forschner added: “We will implement the necessary measures in an orderly manner while maintaining moderate considerations.
” Any necessary personnel adjustments will be made on the basis of consultation with social partners to avoid mandatory layoffs.
Geshi comments: cost pressure increases, Bosch also “complains”.
Chery will sign a technology platform licensing agreement with high-end European brands.
A few days ago, Chery Chairman Yin Tongyue personally drove Star era ET to conduct a long-distance high-speed intelligent driving live test.
during the live broadcast, Yin Tongyue revealed that Chery is about to sign a technology platform cooperation agreement with a high-end European brand.
At present, two high-end European car brands want to use our platform, and one of them will sign an agreement with us, Yin Tongyue said.
the agreement will be signed during his trip to Europe, which begins on April 16.
In addition to the two brands that are finalizing the partnership, Yin Tongyue also revealed that Chery is also in talks with two other brands on possible cooperation, which fully shows that Chery’s technology platform is highly recognized by the industry.
In addition to negotiating technology platform authorization with foreign car companies, Chery is also actively looking for suitable sites in Europe to establish a production base.
The Spanish government and its chief negotiator EV Motors revealed last week that they were about to reach an agreement with Chery to produce cars in Spain.
It was also reported that the Italian government was also in talks with Chery to attract it to produce cars locally.
A new case has been added to China’s electrification technology export.
Xiaopeng signed an EEA architecture cooperation agreement with Volkswagen, which will be implemented from 2026.
On April 17, Xiaopeng and Volkswagen Group jointly announced that the two sides signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on electronic and electrical architecture technology.
In this cooperation, Xiaopeng Motor and Volkswagen Group will jointly develop and integrate Xiaopeng Motor’s latest generation of electronic and electrical architecture into Volkswagen’s CMP platform in China.
The electronic and electrical architecture jointly developed by the two sides is expected to be used in China from 2026.
Volkswagen brand electric models produced.
Photo: Xiaopeng Automobile, it is reported that this structure, jointly developed by Xiaopeng Motor, Volkswagen China Technology and Volkswagen Group’s CARIAD China, will ensure the rapid digital expansion of Volkswagen brand’s local electric models.
With OTA remote upgrades, advanced features, including self-driving, will be seamlessly integrated into the vehicle and can be continuously updated and expanded.
At the same time, due to the adoption of an architecture based on regional control and quasi-central computing, the number of controllers in the vehicle will be significantly reduced by 30%.
Therefore, the local market-oriented CEA architecture will enhance the cost competitiveness of the product.
Gaishi comments: in front of Chery and European high-end brands to negotiate technology platform authorization, and then Xiaopeng and Volkswagen cooperation, Chinese car companies “promising”.
The German Association of Automobile Manufacturers opposes EU tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
According to foreign media reports, the German Association of Automobile Manufacturers (VDA) said it opposed EU tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China, saying the move would bring the risk of a trade war and threaten German jobs.
Hildegard Mueller, director of the VDA Association, told the media: “the current business with China provides a lot of job opportunities for Germany.
” Our company is currently transforming with record capital, and the capital needed for the transformation is also provided by China, an important market.
” Mueller said that in the event of a trade conflict between the EU and China, any EU tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles could quickly have a negative impact, putting the EU’s goal of promoting electric vehicles and digital technology at risk.
The European Commission concluded that there was “sufficient evidence” that new electric vehicles imported from China had received illegal subsidies.
The European Union has warned that sales and production levels of European manufacturers could fall if China’s imports of electric vehicles remain uncontrolled.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Olaf Scholz) visited China on April 14.
On April 13, the BMW Group announced that Chairman Zipze would accompany German Chancellor Schultz and a delegation of entrepreneurs to visit China, emphasizing the firm commitment to promote prosperity through deepening cooperation and to continue to expand investment in China.
Chipze reiterated BMW Group’s strategy and commitment to ploughing the Chinese market.
“China is the future and the largest market of BMW Group in the world.
” Our continued success in China is inseparable from the continuous growth and development of our footprint in China.
” The automobile industry in China and Europe has already formed a pattern of “you have me, I have you”, and the relevant pros and cons need to be carefully weighed.
Nissan is betting on solid-state batteries and will adopt integrated die-casting technology.
On April 16, Nissan said it would start mass production of solid-state batteries for electric vehicles in early 2029 and use large die-casting machines to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of future models, Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, Nissan hopes to use technological advances to cope with fierce competition from competitors such as Tesla and BYD.
Both Tesla and BYD take the lead in the production of electric cars.
Nissan all-solid-state battery pilot production line (under construction).
photo: Nissan, Nissan will first conduct prototype testing at a pilot plant in Yokohama, develop solid-state batteries, and then slowly increase production capacity.
For now, however, the factory has not yet been completed.
It is reported that solid-state batteries are expected to charge faster and have a longer service life than traditional batteries.
Nissan is expected to start producing the first solid-state batteries at its Yokohama plant in March 2025 and will deploy 100 workers on each production shift from April 2028, increasing production to monthly 100MWh.
In addition, Nissan said it would use integrated die-casting technology to produce electric vehicles from fiscal year 2027, which could reduce manufacturing costs by 10 per cent and reduce the weight of parts by 20 per cent.
Hideyuki Sakamoto, Nissan’s executive vice president of manufacturing and supply chain management, said Nissan has been using foundry technology to make front air-conditioning structures at its Tochigi plant for more than 15 years.
According to Sakamoto, Nissan considered a variety of ways to produce the body.
“in the end, we decided to use a 6000-ton integrated die casting machine to make the rear body structure of the car from aluminum castings,” Sakamoto said.
Nissan plans to launch 30 new models over the next three years, 16 of which will be electric, including eight all-electric vehicles and four plug-in hybrids.
At present, the company is seeking to reduce the cost of the next generation of electric vehicles by 30%, hoping to make the price of electric vehicles comparable to those of internal combustion engines by 2030.
Gaishi comments: many car companies fight for solid-state batteries, and it is hard to say who wins and who loses.
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