Ford announced on Tuesday that it will cut 3,800 jobs in Europe over the next three years in an effort to streamline its operations as it deals with economic headwinds and increased competition in electric vehicles.
As per the carmaker, 2,300 jobs would be cut in Germany, 1,300 in the United Kingdom, and 200 elsewhere in the continent. The company further said that its objective of offering an all-electric fleet in Europe by 2035 remains unchanged, and that production of its first European-built electric vehicle will begin later this year, as per a report by news agency Reuters.
Ford is seeking for a "leaner, more competitive cost structure in Europe," according to the firm. It claimed that it will begin talks with the intent to achieve the reductions through voluntary separation programmes.
The US automaker is planning to shed 2,800 engineering jobs, and 1,000 administrative roles by 2025 as a result of the move to less complex electric vehicles. However, it intends to keep roughly 3,400 engineering roles in Europe.
“These are difficult decisions, not taken lightly," Martin Sander, the general manager of Ford Model e in Europe, said in a statement. "We recognise the uncertainty it creates for our team, and I assure them we will be offering them our full support in the months ahead," it said.
Ford is set to introduce its first electric vehicle in Europe later this year in Cologne, based on Volkswagen's MEB platform, and is considering introducing a Ford platform to Europe, possibly to its Valencia facility.
Ford's European staff last saw a wave of job cuts in 2019 and 2020 as the carmaker pursued a 6 per cent operating margin in the region, a goal thrown off course by the pandemic, with pretax profit margins in Europe in the first nine months of 2022 at just 2.2 per cent of sales.
(With Reuters inputs)
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