In 2023, the Chinese car market saw a surge of sand.

　　Just last week, multiple car companies announced layoffs, with Yueda Kia's management taking a one-year break, Ford losing nearly 4 billion yuan and cutting 1300 jobs, and Jixing reducing operating costs by 10% globally... In the trend of electrification and intelligence, both traditional and new power car manufacturers are facing increasingly fierce competition, making life difficult. In order to avoid companies being shuffled and eliminated due to deeper crises, streamlining personnel to increase resources and reduce costs may be one of the necessary ways to cope with the crisis.

　　Zhang Jingsong, a reporter from Orange and Persimmon Interactive, confirmed this series of layoffs.

　　Electric transformation opens Pandora's box?

　　The rise of electric vehicles in China has far exceeded many people's previous expectations, and many joint venture car companies are actively pursuing change. There are both successful companies and losers, especially those that have gradually been marginalized. While recruiting talent, they are also reducing employees.

　　Yueda Kia developed quite smoothly before 2016, with the highest annual sales reaching 650000 vehicles. However, since 2017, Kia's market share in China has been continuously shrinking. By 2022, Kia's sales in China were only around 94000 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of over 40%. Since 2017, Yueda Kia has not made a profit, with the net profit attributable to the parent company dropping from -1123 million yuan to -37 billion yuan last year, and the hole of loss is becoming larger and larger.

　　Last week, an internal notice circulated online regarding the one-year rotation of management positions at Yueda Kia. According to the notice, more than 100 people, mostly managers and department heads, are involved in the management team. The rotation period is from June 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024. Starting from the second month of the rotation period, employees can only receive the local standard minimum wage, and welfare benefits are also suspended. Once the notice of the rotation was exposed, it immediately sparked a heated discussion among netizens, believing that Yueda Kia had disguised layoffs and forced employees to voluntarily resign.

　　Yueda Kia's public relations department replied that the announcement shall prevail, and they are unwilling to say anything else.

　　However, in a statement released by Yueda Kia, the reporter saw: "In response to the current new energy transformation, the company has taken the initiative to change, made corresponding adjustments, reshaped its business system, expanded the recruitment of professional local elite talents, stimulated organizational vitality, and achieved healthy development of the company

　　On one hand, there is a rotation break, and on the other hand, there is recruitment. I have to exclaim that Kia's operations are truly "open source and cost saving".

　　Throttling, a helpless choice?

　　Coincidentally, on May 10th, Ford China was exposed to have laid off 1300 employees, and departing employees could receive N+3 compensation.

　　Regarding this matter, the head of Ford's public relations department in China replied: We are well aware that Ford does not yet have a competitive advantage in cost control. We will work together with our partners to further optimize production costs and structural costs. By building a more streamlined and flexible team, we can ensure that we win in the fierce market competition, making Ford's business in China healthier and more sustainable.

　　In recent years, Ford has performed poorly in the Chinese market. According to data from Ford China, in 2022, Ford's sales in China were 496000 units, compared to 625000 units in 2021, a year-on-year decrease of 20.6%, resulting in a loss of 572 million US dollars (approximately 4 billion RMB) in the Chinese market. According to the Changan Automobile Production and Sales Express, Changan Ford's cumulative sales in 2022 were 251019 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 17.61%. It is worth mentioning that in 2016, Ford's sales in China reached a peak record of 1.27 million vehicles.

　　For Ford, changing its strategic direction and streamlining its workforce, even if there is no open source solution, it is still possible to achieve savings. After all, the importance of the Chinese market is there, and Ford will not give up easily.

　　At the same time as layoffs, Ford China is still recruiting externally while optimizing its organizational structure. According to Pulse platform information, Ford China is recruiting an electric vehicle retail manager in Beijing, with a monthly salary of 25000 to 50000 yuan and an annual salary of 13 yuan.

　　A new force in car manufacturing, facing a crisis due to lack of money?

　　At present, there are almost no profitable new forces in car manufacturing, even if they rely on large groups, they will feel that money is not enough.

　　On May 11th, the global high-performance electric vehicle brand Polestar officially announced that it will lay off 10% of its workforce globally and has frozen recruitment.

　　Jixing stated that it is strengthening its focus on cost management to improve the efficiency of the entire enterprise.

　　In the past four years, Polar Star has been in a continuous loss state. According to the financial report, Jixing had a net loss of $9 million in the first quarter, a decrease from a net loss of $275 million in the same period last year. But as of 2022, the number of insurance vehicles insured by Jixing in China was only 1719, and the news of global recruitment suspension and layoffs of 10% may indicate that Jixing's financial flow is tight.

　　The person in charge of Polar Star China replied that the layoff news is true, but it does not involve Polar Star China.

　　Wise people often see hope in crises. At the beginning of this year, BYD Wang Chuanfu announced that this year, BYD will also recruit 30000 fresh engineers. And many car tycoons have voiced their optimism about the future of China's car market in different occasions, and shuffling is to better break through.