Indian Automaker Mahindra To Cut Detroit Workforce: Report

DETROIT, MI — Mahindra, an automaker based in India, has cut half of its North American workforce including workers at an auto plant in Detroit, according to reports.

Of the workforce that will be cut are engineers and manufacturing jobs at Mahindra's Detroit plant that produces its off-road Roxor vehicle, as well as sales executives, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Reuters did not report how many jobs would be lost in the cutback but did report that Mahindra had over 500 employees in early 2020. The news outlet reported that a source said hundreds of people had been laid off since 2020 as part of a restructuring.

Mahindra recently was involved in a joint automotive venture with Ford Motor Co. that the two companies agreed to end on Dec. 31.

The companies said in a joint news release at the time that the decision was driven by fundamental changes in global economic business conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Those changes, the companies said, influenced separate decisions by the two companies to reassess their priorities.

While Ford said its independent operations in India would continue as they were, Mahindra did not suggest any significant cutbacks to its North American workforce at the time, at least publicly.