Chrysler parent company Stellantis said Friday (Oct 28) it has offered voluntary buyouts to some of its 13,000 US salaried employees.

Salaried workers age 55 or older who have been with the automaker at least 10 years are eligible.

The world’s No 4 carmaker, created early last year from the merger of PSA and Fiat Chrysler, said the offer was “part of our transformation to become a sustainable tech mobility company and the market leader in low-emission vehicles”. The deadline to seek a buyout is Dec 5.

Stellantis plans to have 75 electric vehicle (EV) models on the market and sell five million EVs a year by 2030, including 50 per cent of US sales by then as EVs or plug-in hybrids. Ford Motor said in August it was cutting a total of 3,000 salaried and contract jobs, mostly in North America and India, telling workers that the company’s cost structure “is uncompetitive versus traditional and new competitors”.

Ford chief executive Jim Farley had said he thought the No 2 US automaker had too many people, and that not enough of its workforce had the skills required as the auto industry shifts to electric vehicles and digital services.

Rival General Motors in late 2018 moved to cut 14,000 jobs as it prepared to accelerate its EV strategy but said this week it has no plans for layoffs.

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Earlier this year the Detroit automaker said it was slowing hiring and only replacing key departures or critical needs.

GM chief financial officer Paul Jacobson said Tuesday he was “proud of the way that the team is handling that and no plans for any layoffs at this point”. REUTERS