General Motors is laying off another 1,000 workers, mostly at its Global Tech Center in Warren, offering the latest “unmistakable sign the auto industry is slowing.”

Patrick Anderson, CEO of Anderson Economic Group in East Lansing, told Bridge Michigan it’s also obvious “that consumers are expressing some reluctance about buying the higher-priced cars, notably electric cars.”

Anderson added: “Manufacturers are cutting back on their costs in anticipation of a further slowdown or even a recession.”

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GM confirmed on Friday the 1,000 layoffs worldwide involve 507 salary and hourly employees at the Global Tech Center, including 34 working aftersales engineering, 40 in engineering operations, 26 in manufacturing engineering and two dozens in sales.

“In order to win in this competitive market, we need to optimize for speed and excellence,” GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly said in a statement cited by The Detroit News. “This includes operating with efficiency, ensuring we have the right team structure, and focusing on our top priorities as a business. As part of this continuous effort, we’ve made a small number of team reductions.  We are grateful to those who helped establish a strong foundation that positions GM to lead in the industry moving forward.”

The Friday layoffs follow about three months after the carmaker let 1,000 employees go in August, including 600 at the Tech Center, as The Big Three have delayed vehicle launches, shut down factories and cut back on staff.

In late October, Ford idled its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn through Jan. 6, putting about 800 out of work amid what CEO Jim Farley described as a “slow uptake of EVs.”

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The Rouge Electric Vehicle Center produces the Ford F-150 Lightning, and the layoffs there followed a 50% production cut in early 2024. The layoffs in Dearborn came after Ford in August scrapped plans for an EV manufacturing hub in Oakville, Ontario, to focus instead on gas-powered Super Duty trucks.

Stellantis offered buyouts to salaried workers over the summer, before laying off 1,100 in Warren in October due to declining sales, and another 400 in Detroit this month.

“The automotive industry is dealing with some challenges right now,” Michael Greiner, professor of management at Oakland University, told WJBK, noting the cuts will have a significant impact beyond the employees themselves.

“The incomes of the employees there have what we call a multiplier effect, which means it’s money coming from the outside of the community,” he said. “The difference that we have with these jobs it that if these employees get a job somewhere else, they might not be coming back to Warren. They might not be coming back to Macomb County.”

Glenn Stevens, executive director of MICHAuto, told Bridge the layoffs are “not a tremendous surprise, given the global, intense competition that a company like General Motors is in right now.”

Stevens pointed to Chinese automakers who now supply roughly half the world’s new car demand, with the ability to quickly develop new products.

“Any company in this market, this global market, has to have speed,” Stevens said. “You have to be as efficient and streamlined, and have the right people in the right positions, to execute like that.”

The strategic shifts by The Big Three come as President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nix a $7,500 federal tax credit and tight emissions standards that has helped to drive EV sales that are growing at a slower rate than some anticipated.

“In 2023, EV sales increased by over 50% from the year before,” The New York Times reports. “In the first half of this year, according to government data, they are up about 10%.”

That’s due in part to price, with a new electric car or truck averaging $56,371 compared to an average of $48,644 for all vehicles, according to estimates from Cox Automotive cited by the Times.

With the anticipated loss of the federal tax incentive, and The Big Three continuing to lose money on EVs, automakers “have to start reducing expenses, and unfortunately, they’ve decided to do so with engineering and other staff that have been working on all kinds of vehicles, not just electric vehicles.”

Overall, annual car and truck sales remain about 1 million below pre-pandemic numbers, and GM CEO Mary Barra suggested in an October letter to shareholders that Michigan’s second-most valuable company is focused on right-sizing for the future.

“The regulatory environment will keep getting tougher,” Barra wrote. “That’s why we are focused on optimizing our (internal combustion engine vehicle) margins and working to make our EVs profitable on an EBIT basis as quickly as possible.”