The tech layoff contagion is hitting automakers — but it's not like what's happening at Google, Meta, and Microsoft

• An auto expert warns of a "generational layoff" in the car industry.
• The cuts are different from the kind sweeping tech giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
• The auto industry's shift to electric vehicles will spur more layoffs in the years ahead.

After avoiding the mass job cuts that hit the tech sector early this year, car companies are starting to make their own staffing reductions with buyout packages and waves of layoffs.

But the downsizing wave hitting the automotive industry isn't quite the same as the one plaguing tech giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft.