By Joey Chenoweth | Pinal Central
COOLIDGE — A month after saying there would be no layoffs at its Coolidge manufacturing plant as it refocuses the company toward North American sales, Nikola Motors announced Friday that it would be reducing staff as part of overall spending cuts.
The Phoenix-based company that is manufacturing electric- and hydrogen-powered semi-trucks in Coolidge said it will be reducing spending to under $400 million, including by cutting about $50 million in personnel costs.
Those cuts come from laying off about 270 employees. Of those, about 150 will be those who were partly or fully focused on the European market, which Nikola announced in May it was abandoning to focus on North America. There will be an additional cut of 120 positions from their sites in Coolidge, Phoenix and Cypress, California, where they are moving their battery manufacturing plant to Coolidge.
