Volvo Cars will cut about 2,500 more jobs, mostly in Sweden, after a much-bigger-than-expected third-quarter loss sent its shares down nearly 30 percent to a record low.
Volvo Cars swung to a heavy third-quarter loss on Friday and answered with deeper cuts: about 2,500 more jobs will go, roughly 2,000 of them in Sweden, as the Geely-owned carmaker reinforces a turnaround plan that is struggling against tariffs, a price war in China and faltering electric-vehicle demand.
The company reported an operating loss of 3.7 billion Swedish crowns for the quarter, against a 5.8 billion crown profit a year earlier and far worse than the 724 million crown loss analysts had expected. Revenue fell nearly 23 percent to 66.9 billion crowns and the gross margin collapsed to 14.7 percent from 20.4 percent a year ago. The shares fell by about 30 percent in Stockholm trading to a record low, and have lost more than two-thirds of their value this year.
The new cuts, to be achieved through consultant-contract terminations, natural attrition and targeted exit packages affecting about six percent of the workforce, come with a further five billion crowns of indirect and variable cost savings, on top of the 23 billion crown cost-and-cash plan launched in April 2025 that had already brought about 3,000 job reductions. Chief executive Hakan Samuelsson said the latest measures should be completed by mid-2027 but did not rule out more if the turnaround falls short. The company, which employs about 39,300 people worldwide including 19,500 in Sweden, said Europe was now its only profitable region.
The 2,500 figure, the roughly 2,000 in Sweden, and the quarterly loss and revenue numbers are reported consistently by Reuters and AFP, the two agencies covering the results. The share-price fall is given as around 25 to 30 percent across outlets, reflecting different snapshots through the trading day rather than any disagreement. The company's own results statement is the source of the CEO's mid-2027 timeline and the margin-over-market-share strategy for China and the US. No primary press release was fetched directly for this package, so the figures rest on the two wires' reporting.
The stakes are whether Volvo can shrink its break-even point faster than its markets shrink around it. The company has bet on prioritizing margins over volume in China and the US while concentrating production at five plants, and it is doing so with a leadership transition already scheduled, as Samuelsson is set to hand over to Skoda chief Klaus Zellmer no later than October next year. The fourth quarter will show whether the reinforced plan is biting or merely buying time.