These job cuts, concentrated in the research teams and product development, will mainly take place in Germany and in the United Kingdom.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
Faced with the difficulties he encounters in Europe, Ford wants to create a “more competitive cost structure”, announced the car manufacturer on Tuesday, February 14 at a press conference. The American company has chosen to reduce the number of models designed for Europe by focusing on electric vehicles and its very profitable sales of utilities.
It intends in particular to divide the vehicle design teams by two. Other positions are also provided for in administrative and support functions. In total, 3,800 jobs will disappear in Europe over the next three years. Among them, 3,600 positions located in Germany and the United Kingdom and 200 located in other European countries, still not specified. After these departures, there will remain 3,400 engineers who will continue to work on Ford products in Europe.
This manufacturer’s announcement comes when the fear of relocation of the automotive industries has risen to Europe, since Washington allocated large subsidies in favor of electric vehicles built in the United States, in its plan baptized IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) .
the switch to the electric
Ford is engaged in the race for electric, an expensive technology which requires a complete modernization of existing factories. With this in mind, its European sites were already preparing for the reorganization of the group’s activities. But until recently, the jobs of the Cologne site seemed preserved.
The confirmation of these posts of posts was however expected after their announcement at the end of January by the German union IG Metall. In Germany, they will be “mainly on the Cologne site”, had detailed a spokesperson for the union.
Ford also announced in the summer of 2022 to deletions of several thousand positions in the United States and India, during conversions of factories to electric.