Automotive information and appraisal service Edmunds.com Inc. announced plans to lay off 130 employees.

The layoffs, which are scheduled for March, will affect personnel at Edmunds’ Santa Monica headquarters and at an office in Detroit.

The cuts will reduce Edmunds’ workforce from roughly 550 people to about 420, according to Edmunds spokesperson Talia James.

Neither office will be closed, but in a Jan. 6 filing with the California Economic Development Department the company said the reductions are expected to be permanent.

“These restructuring efforts were a strategic decision we made to help Edmunds focus on its core revenue drivers so we are in the most financially healthy position for future growth,” Jamie Epstein, vice president of employment experience at Edmunds, said in an email.

Edmunds was established in 1966 as an auto appraisal aid and grew into an online tool to help users buy and sell cars.

The company faces stiff competition for market share from other digitally focused car-shopping services, including TrueCar Inc., which is also based in Santa Monica, and Atlanta-based AutoTrader Group Inc.

“As a company, our vision and mission are the same, which is to guide consumers to their perfect car and make car buying easy from research to purchase,” Epstein said.

Edmunds, she added, has “made significant investments in the website experience and product over the past couple of years, and we are currently focused on upcoming initiatives that we believe will yield both near-term economic benefit and long-term competitive advantage.”

Epstein didn’t elaborate on those initiatives.

Tech reporter Samson Amore can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8335. Follow him on Twitter @samsonamore.