A permanent magnet electric machine (PM machine) for a vehicle or other system includes a rotor assembly, fixed permanent magnets, a stator, an actuator, and one or more repositionable/moveable flux-shunting elements. The flux-shunting element is repositioned to control flux at specific operating points of the PM machine. The rotor assembly has a rotor coaxially surrounding and coupled to a rotor shaft. The permanent magnets are mounted to or in the rotor, and the moveable flux-shunting element is positioned between the rotor shaft and a respective one of the permanent magnets. Inboard and outboard ends of each respective permanent magnet may be oriented toward the rotor shaft and stator, respectively. The actuator selectively positions the moveable flux-shunting element at one or more operating points of the PM machine to vary reluctance in a magnetic circuit formed by the stator and rotor assembly.