Ford to cut 3,800 jobs amid electric 8k8 com login downloadtransition

The US automaker Ford has announced it will cut 3,800 jobs from its European operations, as it begins to phase out production of engine-driven cars and turns its focus to electric vehicles.

Up to 11 percent of Ford's workforce will be reduced in the region over the next three years, with the cuts made across various sections of the business.

It expects 2,800 engineering jobs to be cut by 2025, with 1,000 also gone in the administrative, marketing, sales and distribution departments across Europe. This includes 2,300 in Germany, 1,300 in the United Kingdom and 200 across the rest of the region.

Ford aims to have an electric-only portfolio in Europe by 2035, and its announcement highlighted the restructuring is happening specifically because of the transition to electric, Sky News reported.

The company said the job cuts will bring a "leaner, more competitive cost structure" for its regional operations and will help with the transition toward an increasingly electric product portfolio.

The restructuring comes as Ford prepares "to compete and win in a highly competitive region", Ford's European manager Martin Sander said in a statement.

"These are difficult decisions, not taken lightly," Sander said. "We recognize the uncertainty it creates for our team, and I assure them we will be offering them our full support in the months ahead."

The company has previously said it is investing 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) to produce electric models at its main flagship regional production operation in Cologne.

"There is significantly less work to be done on drivetrains moving out of combustion engines," Sander said, speaking on a press call.

"We are moving into a world with fewer global platforms where less engineering work is necessary. This is why we have to make the adjustments."

Sander said the company will engage with workers' unions to make the cuts via voluntary redundancies.

"We will engage in consultations with our social partners, so we can move forward together on building a thriving future for our business in Europe," he said.

Ford's UK manager Tim Slatter told the Financial Times how electric-only models are less complicated to develop.

"The amount of (product development) work needed to be done is less because of that simplification," he said.

"The demand on the product development activities globally is reducing (because) the reality is once the technology is developed, it's much easier to repeatedly install in future vehicles."

Ford has said previously that its electric vehicle operation in Europe was not likely to make a profit until 2025 amid global chip shortages and rising costs.

Slatter told the Financial Times the changes announced are not a reaction to last quarter's poor financial performance, but part of an orderly shift in the business.

Company officials reported that its net income fell 90 percent in the last three months of 2022 from a year earlier. It said costs were too high and that it contended with a global shortage of computer chips and other parts used in its vehicles.

Agencies contributed to this story.

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