WASHINGTON - General Motors is cutting hundreds of executive-level and salaried jobs as it looks to cut costs and streamline operations, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The global reductions are in the “low hundreds”, the person said.

In February, GM’s rival Ford Motor said it was cutting one in nine jobs in Europe, axing 3,800 roles in product development and administration as part of a drive to lower costs in the region and concentrate engineering know-how in the United States.

Stellantis on Monday said it was cutting up to 2,000 workers from the carmaker’s Italian operations this year through voluntary redundancies. On Tuesday, Stellantis indefinitely idled a plant in Illinois that employs about 1,350 workers.

GM chief people officer Arden Hoffman said in a letter to employees on Tuesday that the Detroit automaker is “committed to US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) in cost savings in the next two years, which we’ll find by reducing corporate expenses, overhead and complexity in all our products”.

GM disclosed the US$2 billion cost cut target in January. The automaker said in that month that it was not planning on layoffs, and on Tuesday did not characterise the cuts as layoffs.

GM said the job action on Tuesday “follows our most recent performance calibration and supports managing the attrition curve as part of our overall structural costs reduction effort.”

“In an environment where our competitors’ margins are improving, it’s imperative that we act now and focus on our own efficiency,” said Ms Hoffman.

She added: “To deliver on our commitments and to beat the competition, we need to have the winning team, bar none. We need a culture shift that enables us to hold ourselves accountable for achieving the higher levels of operating that are now required.”

GM shares closed down 1.5 per cent on Tuesday. REUTERS