Stellantis would start hiring engineers in countries where salaries are lower, such as Morocco, India and Brazil, to save money. This was revealed by Bloomberg, who reports how the automotive group is aiming to recruit around two thirds of its engineers around the world with costs of around 50 thousand euros per year per employee, compared to five times the sum it would pay in Paris or Detroit.
Stellantis’ hiring strategy
According to the US financial channel, in fact, Stellantis is trying to reduce personnel costs to cope with the slowdown in demand for electric vehicles and price competition in the battery-powered vehicle market, to make the cost of zero-emission cars more affordable for consumers. A French or US engineer has compensation of the equivalent of 150-200 thousand dollars a yearwhile the salary of a Brazilian or Indian colleague would reach a maximum of 20-30% of the salary for the same figures in Western countries.
From the revelations reported by Bloomberg, Stellantis would not be the only automotive group to have decided to hire “low cost” engineers, but it would be the most “aggressive” manufacturer in carrying out this recruitment strategy.
The US media cites, for example, Tesla and Volkswagen, which are cutting jobs and moving production to cheaper locations, Renault, which has cut 1,500 engineers in France and created hubs in Romania, Brazil and South Korea and also BMW which is hiring in India.
Stellantis production numbers
While Bloomberg reports on the recruitment campaign, Stellantis’ April production, based on Dataforce processing, recorded over 6,360 commercial vehicles registered, closing the first quarter of 2024 with over 30 thousand vehicles soldequal to a share of 41.3%.
Specifically, Fiat Professional is the market leader brand in the four months with over 18,250 registrations equal to a 25.1% share and the Ducato is the best-selling commercial vehicle with over 7,500 registrations. In the same Large Van segment, also considering Peugeot Boxer, Citroën Jumper and Opel Movano, all vehicles produced in Atessa (Chieti), Stellantis’ share in the market is 39.2%.
Among the Stellantis brands, Citroën, Peugeot and Opel also performed well, recording market shares of 5.6%, 5.1% and 4% respectively in the first four months of the year.
“During the first quarter – explained Gianluca Zampese, director of the Commercial Vehicles Business Unit of Stellantis in Italy – we consolidated our leadership on the Italian commercial vehicle market and I am optimistic about the rest of the year thanks to the renewal of the entire range of Stellantis vans available throughout our widespread sales and assistance network. The arrival of new second generation 100% electric products and a portfolio of new connected services will allow us to always be at the forefront in providing the best solutions for our customers’ needs.”
