The Motor show opens its doors this Monday, October 14 in Paris, Porte de Versailles: 400 exhibitors, more than 30 manufacturers present, 48 brands, concept cars, highly anticipated new models like the Renault 4 and 5, the C3 Aircross or the Peugeot E-408, but also a lot of doubts about an industry which is experiencing some upheavalsparticularly here in Alsace. Stellantis Mulhouse has just learned that its big boss, Carlos Tavares, was on the start and the equipment manufacturers look grim at the image of Dumarey Powerglide in Strasbourg which recently announced the elimination of 248 jobs and at the same time 126 employees are in the hot seat at Novara to Ostwald (Bas-Rhin).
Registrations at their lowest in 20 years
If the Stellantis Mulhouse factory currently hires 5,300 employees, including 4,170 on permanent contracts, the site generates thousands of jobs beyond its production lines. Equipment manufacturers of all kinds depend on the automotive giant’s order book, including profit targets for 2024 were halved after record profits. The sector is experiencing difficulties. Registration figures for September in France were the worst in the last 20 years, and order intake the worst in the last 10 years.
“The climate is one of worry, a climate of anxiety”says Christophe Schirch, elected CGT at Flex N Get, a company based in Burnhaupt-le-Haut (Haut-Rhin) which produces bumpers, When we see Novares, it is a situation that strikes us because it is a site that is comparable to ours.“The two subcontractors have almost the same number of employees and above all the same main client: Stellantis Mulhouse.”I would say 80 to 90% of our bumpers are sold to them. If they stop their teams, we stop ours 24 hours later. We are tied hand and foot by the client“, the trade unionist is alarmed.
“A gloomy climate? A pretext to cut jobs”
There are several dark spots on the table: fierce Asian competition, more cautious consumers due to still high borrowing rates and lower-than-expected sales of electric vehicles, while the EU is urging manufacturers to shelve their thermal engines. . “An electric vehicle costs more than 20,000 euros. Who in Stéllantis, as a worker, can afford to buy a car at that price?“, questions Thierry Valero, CGT delegate at Stellantis Mulhouse, we manufacture high-end vehicles at lower costs, this famous hunt for costs and that means that jobs will take a hit.”
“Competition in China, or electricity, all this is a pretext“, says Salah Keltoumi, elected CGT at Stellantis Mulhouse, 30 or 40 years ago, we were told that it was the Japanese, then the Germans, then the Covid… Our boss always has the same logic, which is to eliminate positions.” Questioned on the subject during his trip to Sochaux (Doubs), Carlos Tavares assumed: “The business strategy has proven itself.” Reference to the record profits of the multinational, which generated 16.8 billion euros in profit in 2022, then 18.6 billion in 2023.
“So they say they are going to make a little less operating margin… So what?!”s’insurge Salah Keltoumi, It’s not because they’re going to do a little less that they’re not going to make money. They will continue to gain, but this is to the detriment of employees, of positions which are eliminated in factories, like the one in Mulhouse.” The example of Mulhouse is quite revealing. The site hired 9,000 employees ten years ago, “and 20 years ago, there were 14,000 of us“, breathes Thierry Valero.
