Ford, Tesla supplier delays Reno facility closure after mass layoffs

Reporting by Jason Hidalgo, Reno Gazette Journal 

A manufacturer of interior parts for major automakers is extending the closure date of its Reno facility after mass layoffs.

SA Automotive notified the city of Reno and the state that it is updating a mass layoff notice it sent earlier this year announcing plans to shut down operations by Oct. 7. The closure date has been moved to Nov. 14.

SA Automotive extended the date after receiving a request from one of its clients.

“A customer of the Company has requested that a portion of the workforce be retained until on or about November 14, 2025 to meet some remaining limited demand of the customer,” SA Automotive wrote in a WARN notice sent to Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve and the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

SA Automotive offered its 63 remaining employees the option to stay until mid-November. The company already laid off 91 workers prior to the Reno site’s closure.

SA Automotive still has locations in Michigan and Mexico.

‘Loss of business’ cited as reason for SA Automotive’s closure of Reno facility

SA Automotive again cited a loss of business as the reason for shutting down its Reno facility.

The company manufactures automotive interior trim parts such as door panels, seatback covers, floor coverings and cargo liners. It supplies automakers including Tesla, Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen and Rivian.

“It breaks my heart that they’re leaving our region, but we understand that’s just the nature of business,” said Taylor Adams, president and CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.

“Markets are always simultaneously expanding and contracting and we’re not immune from the contractions.”

While Northern Nevada’s economic diversification into manufacturing, logistics and technology has helped it weather recessions and travel slumps that hit tourism-dependent areas such as Las Vegas, it also means Reno-Sparks is impacted more by downturns in the aforementioned sectors.

Manufacturing, for example, has struggled under high tariffs enacted by the Trump administration against U.S. trading partners. That includes the automotive sector and suppliers such as SA Automotive, which source materials from overseas.

“We find ourselves becoming a new destination for tech manufacturing that’s looking to scale, and that diversity that our economy built … is serving us well in the present,” Adams said.

“That said, this is probably why we’re also feeling things like tariffs so much more directly.”

Northern Nevada better equipped to deal with manufacturing losses, EDAWN says

The good news is that Northern Nevada’s manufacturing ecosystem is more robust now and can absorb losses better, according to EDAWN.

As soon as the SA Automotive closure was reported by the Reno Gazette Journal in August, Adams says he got a call from another company looking to hire from the employees that were being let go.

“I can’t tell you which company, but as soon as that (news) hit the paper, I got a call from a local manufacturer that said, ‘Hey, we’re expanding. Can you put me in touch with their HR group?’” Adams said.

“It’s because the work that’s been done here to diversify our economy has built a broad enough employment base that we can absorb retractions. Somebody’s growing while somebody else is contracting.”

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect