According to the 21st Century Economic Report, after the May 1st holiday, Ideal Internal is undergoing a new round of company-wide personnel optimization, with an overall optimization ratio of over 18%.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that after rumors of layoffs in April, Ideal Auto (02015) is once again being rumored to be undergoing a round of personnel optimization. According to the 21st Century Economic Report, after the May 1st holiday, Ideal Internal is undergoing a new round of company-wide personnel optimization, with an overall optimization ratio of over 18%. According to the 2023 financial report, Ideal Auto has nearly 31,600 employees. Calculated according to the optimization ratio, this round of optimization involved more than 5,600 people.
According to reports, the departments that have been optimized the most this time are the recruitment department, sales and service operation department, and the intelligent driving department. Specifically, the sales and service operation department has been optimized for more than 400 people, the recruitment department will be reduced from more than 200 people to 40-50 people, and the smart driving team will be reduced to less than 1,000 people.
People familiar with the matter said that at the end of April, the management approved the final list of layoffs. This round of layoff optimization officially began in the first week of May, and most of them will end before the end of May, and N+1 compensation will be applied to optimized employees. Ideal Auto hopes to complete most of the personnel optimization plans before the employee stock ban is lifted on June 15, thereby saving part of the cost of redeeming stocks for employees.
The optimization of personnel in this round of ideal cars may be closely related to continued sluggish delivery volumes. According to official data, from January to March 2024, the ideal car delivery volume was 31,200 units, 203,000 units, and 29,000 units, respectively, totaling only 80,400 units. Only 10% of the annual sales target was achieved, and the annual sales volume of 800,000 was extremely challenging. In March of this year, Ideal Auto officially lowered its external sales forecast, from the original sales forecast of 650,000 to 800,000 to 560,000 to 640,000.
Precisely because product sales continue to be weak, Ideal has begun to re-examine the prices of its products. On April 22, for the first time in Ideal's history, it was officially announced that all prices were reduced, with the exception of L6, which was reduced by 18,000-30,000. At the time, an Ideal Auto insider said, “The company expects sales to be significantly boosted as prices are lowered.” Furthermore, the source believes that the ideal sales volume is quite good in a market of 300,000 yuan or more, but facing future competition, it is difficult for car companies that do not cut prices to gain an advantage.
After sales expectations are lowered, the corresponding staffing will naturally have to be reduced. After all, at a time when business conditions tend to decline, personnel optimization is the most direct way to reduce costs and increase efficiency.