Renault Layoffs: French carmaker Renault SA is mulling plans to reduce the workforce by as many as 3,000 employees worldwide in support services such as human resources, finance and marketing, according to French news site l’informe. It will be around 15 per cent of the total workforce of the carmaker.
Renault told AFP that it was considering ways to simplify operations, speed up execution and optimise fixed costs. However, it didn’t offer no number because no decision had been made.
Renault had earlier reported that its second-quarter sales were down 0.1 per cent, compared to the growth of 2.8 per cent in the first quarter. According to Reuters report, the French automaker had seen a drop in demand for vans in Europe offset growth in passenger cars.
“Throughout the first half of the year, we have seen increasingly fierce competition between players in the European commercial vehicle market,” said Ivan Segal, global sales and operations director for the Renault brand, which represents 70% of the French automaker’s sales, as quoted by Reuters.
Renault SA has a limited impact from American tariffs because the company hasn’t sold many cars in America. Other carmakers are pushing harder to sell cars in Europe to offset losses in American market due to tariff hike.
With Europe accounting for over 70% of Renault’s car sales but showing limited growth, the automaker is turning its focus to emerging markets. The company has announced an investment of €3 billion ($3.4 billion) to roll out eight new Renault models outside Europe by 2027.
Earlier, German luxury carmaker Audi had said it will cut as many as 7,500 jobs in the European country by 2029 in an effort to improve its flagging profitability. The layoffs, which is roughly 14 per cent of the brand’s German workforce, will mainly affect areas like administration and development.
The layoffs will not affect factory workers, Volkswagen AG’s Audi said on Monday (March 17, 2025). The carmaker plans to invest around €8 billion ($8.7 billion) in its German locations during that period.