Ford Motor Co. will cut about 3,800 jobs across Europe in the latest sign of industrial disruption caused by the global automotive sector’s shift to electric vehicles.
(Bloomberg) — Ford Motor Co. will cut about 3,800 jobs across Europe in the latest sign of industrial disruption caused by the global automotive sector’s shift to electric vehicles.
Workers in Germany and the UK will be hardest-hit with about 2,300 and 1,300 positions to be eliminated respectively over the next three years, Ford said Tuesday. Germany’s IG Metall last month estimated estimated around 3,200 people would lose their jobs.
“Paving the way to a sustainably profitable future for Ford in Europe requires broad-based actions and changes in the way we develop, build and sell Ford vehicles,” Martin Sander, general manager of Ford’s electric-vehicle business in Europe, said in a statement. “This will impact the organizational structure, talent, and skills we will need in the future.”
Ford, which is shifting its model lineup in Europe to battery-only by 2035, previously said the lower complexity of electric cars meant it could cut staff from its product development teams. The company is also trimming jobs in the US as Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley targets $3 billion in savings to help finance a costly shift to electric vehicles.
The company has about 45,000 positions in Europe with Cologne its biggest plant with some 14,000 workers. In the UK, the company has some 7,000 direct employees, making diesel engines at Dagenham and transmissions at the Halewood facility. It also has an engineering center at Dunton in Essex. The company intends to make the reductions through voluntary agreements, it said Tuesday.
The US manufacturer’s confirmation of further cuts at its European business add to a lengthy period of decline in the region. Years of restructuring have seen the sale or closure of a number of factories amid broad job cuts. Its passenger car market share last year was 4.4% with sales totaling just over 510,000 cars, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
Next in line is Ford’s plant at Saarlouis, Germany, where 4,600 workers make the Focus model. The carmaker will cease making the vehicle by 2025 with no plans to produce any other cars there after that. The company is in talks with potential buyers of the plant, including China’s BYD Co., according to people familiar with the matter.
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