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Ford has said that 3,800 jobs will be eliminated over the next three years as part of a major restructuring of its European business.
The carmaker said 2,800 engineering roles will be axed by 2025 and around 1,000 jobs in its administrative, marketing, sales and distribution teams will also be scrapped. The job losses include 1,300 that will be lost in the UK.
The news comes as a blow to unions who said in late January the worst-case scenario was 2,500 job cuts in Europe in product development and a further 700 in administration.
Ford the new strategy is an attempt to make the firm “leaner” as it transitions to offer an all-electric fleet in Europe by 2035. Production of Ford’s first European-built electric passenger vehicle is set to start later this year.
“We are completely reinventing the Ford brand in Europe. Unapologetically American, outstanding design and connected services that will differentiate Ford and delight our customers in Europe”, said Martin Sander, general manager of Ford Model-e in Europe.
“We are ready to compete and win in Europe. Our first European-built electric passenger vehicle is being introduced this spring and will surely turn heads.”
Ford said the job losses are partly driven by the transition to fully electric powertrains, which reduces the complexity of vehicle production.
Ford will maintain an engineering organisation of approximately 3,400 roles in Europe, focused on vehicle design and development, as well as the creation of connected services.
“These are difficult decisions, not taken lightly,” Sander added. “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. 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”.
Globally, Ford is planning to invest over $50bn in EVs through to 2026, which includes various European manufacturing announcements made in 2022.
The company is also targeting carbon neutrality across its European facilities, logistics and key suppliers by 2035.
In December 2022, it announced a £125m investment into the Halewood Plant, UK, taking total investment to almost £380m.
In January of this year, Ford joined a coalition of companies including General Motors and Google Nest that aims to scale up the market for virtual power plants in a bid to increase the resilience of electricity grids.
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