Ford To Cut 11.1% Of Jobs In Its European Operations

Ford plans to cut one in nine jobs in product development and administration across Europe as part of a global drive to cut costs and be competitive in the electric vehicle market, the US automaker said, Victoria Waldersee reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Around 3,800 jobs will be cut in total, including 2,300 at the carmaker's Cologne and Aachen sites in Germany, 1,300 in the UK and 200 in the rest of Europe.

Around 3,800 jobs will be cut in total, including 2,300 at the carmaker's Cologne and Aachen sites in Germany, 1,300 in the UK and 200 in the rest of Europe, the company said, adding it intended to achieve the reductions through voluntary programs.

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.

Still, the carmaker agreed to no compulsory redundancies at its Cologne or Aachen sites before the end of 2032, providing some relief to workers, works council chairman Benjamin Gruschka said on a press call.

"Workers know that the reduced model palette in coming years means fewer jobs. The exclusion of operational redundancies provides safety - we are not kicking anyone out," Gruschka said.

Ford is spending $50 billion on electrifying its product range, pivoting to a slimmer lineup with higher prices to compensate for rising costs of producing electric cars.

Chief Financial Officer John Lawler warned in early February that the American carmaker faced $5 billion in higher costs this year and said the company would be "very aggressive" in reducing expenses in its manufacturing and supply chain operations.

Lawler also said at the time that productivity of engineers in Europe was between 25% and 30% lower than it should be.

The US group will retain around 3,400 engineers in the region who will build on core technology provided by their US counterparts and adapt it to European customers, European passenger electric vehicle (EV) chief and head of Ford Germany Martin Sander said on a press call.

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