The headquaters of US auto company General Motos (GM) in Detroit, Michigan.
Uli Deck | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
DETROIT – General Motors laid off more than 200 salaried employees on Friday, as the automaker continues to reevaluate its businesses and cut costs to boost profits.
The impacted employees were largely Computer-Aided Design, or CAD, engineers who worked at the company’s global tech campus in metro Detroit, according to GM.
“We’re restructuring our design engineering team to strengthen our core architectural design engineering capabilities,” GM said in an emailed statement. “As a result, a number of CAD execution roles have been eliminated. We recognize the efforts and accomplishments of the impacted team members, and we thank them for their contributions.”
GM declined to comment on the number of employees affected, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNBC that more than 200 employees, which was first reported by Bloomberg News. The person spoke anonymously because the number had not yet been made public.
The employees were told their roles were being eliminated due to “business conditions” and not their performance via Microsoft Teams calls on Friday, the source said.
The Detroit automaker has been regularly reviewing its business units and organizations for years in an effort to cut costs, boost profits and eliminate what it considers unneeded or overstaffed roles for future operations.
The most recent layoffs represent a small percentage of the automaker’s salaried workforce, but continue a trend of white-collar U.S. headcount reductions. GM’s U.S. salaried headcount fell from 53,000 in 2023 to 50,000 to end last year.
GM’s layoffs also come a day after all-electric vehicle maker Rivian laid off roughly 4.5% of its workforce, or more than 600 people, to restructure some teams as the EV market faces growing challenges amid policy changes and slower-than-expected demand.
The most recent cuts come as President Donald Trump touted on social media Friday that Ford Motor and GM are “UP BIG on Tariffs” amid tariff changes last week for heavy- and medium-duty trucks, which he referred to as “Big and Midsized Trucks.”
While both Ford and GM, including CEO Mary Barra, this week praised the tariff changes, which also included extending offsets on U.S.-produced vehicles, the automakers are still seeing additional cost burdens from the levies. These changes are simply helping to lower those added costs.
The layoffs come days after GM raised its 2025 financial guidance Tuesday as it beat Wall Street’s top- and bottom-line earnings expectations for the third quarter, causing the stock to have its second-best day on the market since its 2009 emergence from bankruptcy.
Shares of GM are up more than 29% this year, while Ford’s stock is up roughly 38%. Both hit new 52-week highs on Friday.
