Stellantis offers early retirement program to eligible U.S. employees

(This Nov 1 story corrects to say Automotive News, not CNBC, first reported the development in paragraph 5)

(Reuters) - Stellantis NV, the world's fourth-largest automaker, is offering voluntary retirement program to pension-eligible employees in the United States, the company said late Monday.

The Netherlands-based firm said the early retirement is available to workers who are at least 55 years old and have been with the company for 30 years or who are at least 58 years old with 10 years of employment.

The employees being offered the buyouts are already eligible to retire.

"To assist in our transition, and to align our business priorities to a new set of critical skills and investment opportunities, Stellantis North America is offering a voluntary retirement program to eligible members of our team," the company said in an emailed statement.

Industry publication Automotive News first reported the development.

Unionized-salaried employees are not eligible for the buyouts, according to a CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/01/stellantis-offering-buyouts-to-pension-eligible-us-salaried-workers.html report. The company cited the buyouts as a way to assist in its pivot to focus more on electric vehicles, according to the report.

Stellantis, formed at the beginning of the year from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA, had announced plans to build factories in North America with LG Energy and Samsung SDI Co to jointly produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries for the North American market.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla and Rhea Binoy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)