Vthere who is nerd. As the Stellantis group celebrates the return of hiring in France under the sign of the transition to the electric car, its flagship factory in Sochaux is forced to place its employees on short-time working until at least April 14, as the France Bleu Montbéliard radio announced on April 4. Ironically, the reason for this is a shortage of gearboxes! This essential organ of mechanical engines, and a nightmare for novice drivers, is however promised to certain death with the electrification of transport. But for the moment, it lacks some on the lines of the factory.
A small swerve that will not deviate from its route the group resulting from the merger between PSA and Fiat-Chrysler. Its destination is known, it is the end of the sale of thermal engines in Europe in 2030. This forced march change was not the favorite option of Carlos Tavares, the CEO of the company, who has always brandished the threat of social catastrophe in the event of too sudden a change. But as the MEPs have chosen to speed up the pace, he adapts. And, for the moment, it seems to be going rather well, since the group should, for the first time in a long time, stabilize its workforce in France in 2023. After having recruited 1,050 people in 2022, it plans to recruit 1 200 in 2023. At the same time, last year a voluntary redundancy plan for 2,600 people over two years was completed, including 1,300 in 2022.
Burgeoning competition from Chinese cars
Remember that in total, the merger between the French number one and its Italian counterpart, in 2021, resulted in the disappearance of almost 10% of the global workforce. In France, the group has lost 6,000 employees in five years. The stabilization of the workforce, around 47,000 people, is made possible by the company’s good results. The transition to all-electric has two dangers. First, the commercial risk in the face of the emerging competition from Chinese cars. It’s all the greater given that the company’s bountiful profits are largely due to sales of big Jeeps in the United States and its focus on high-margin vehicles, rather than increased sales in Europe. . The second danger, in terms of employment, is that the manufacture and even the maintenance of electric vehicles require fewer personnel.
Moreover, of the 1,200 new hires in 2023, two-thirds of which will be workers, only 300 will be devoted to production, the rest should be divided between engineering and especially sales, including repair. The Trémery-Metz battery plant, the first in France, which will be inaugurated in May, will initially employ only 80 people, then 400 in 2024. We are far from the more than 4,000 people who still manufacture heat engines and gearboxes at this historic site. The path is now known, but the state of the road much less.