Yahoo Finance Ford to cut 1,300 jobs in the UK
Car maker Ford (F) is planning to axe 1,300 jobs in the UK.
The company announced on Tuesday it is cutting around 3,800 jobs across Europe over the next three years as part of an overhaul, with those in the UK to be hardest hit.
Ford is implementing a significant restructuring program resulting in a reduction of 3,800 jobs throughout Europe, with the majority of cuts taking place at its research site in Dunton, Essex.
This is due to the company's preparations for the shift to electric vehicles and an uncertain economic future, resulting in a reduction in development staff.
Several hundred back-office roles across the UK are also anticipated to be terminated.
However, the car maker's production sites in Halewood, Dagenham, and Daventry will not be impacted.
Tim Slatter, chairman of Ford of Britain said: "Here in Europe we've got a pretty difficult economic situation, and the outlook is uncertain.
"High inflation, higher interest rates, the ongoing war in Ukraine, cost of energy and so on."
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Ford has committed to change its production process so that all cars built in the European region will be fully electric by 2030.
Because electric vehicles have fewer engine components, fewer fitters are needed on the production line, leading to a total of 2,800 jobs in the specific Ford engineering sector to be cut across Europe, most of them in the UK and Germany.
Martin Sander, European head of Ford's electric vehicles division said: "These are difficult decisions, not taken lightly and 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."
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The company have now ceased the production of the Ford Mondeo, and in June the last Fiesta will be manufactured on the assembly line in Cologne.
As a part of Ford's $50bn (£40.99bn) worldwide investment in electrification, the company has declared plans to construct a new $3.5bn electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Michigan in the US.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement: “Today’s generational investment by an American icon will uplift local families, small businesses, and the entire community and help our state continue leading the future of mobility and electrification.
“Let’s continue bringing the supply chain of electric vehicles, chips, and batteries home while creating thousands of good paying jobs and revitalizing every region of our state.”
Ford aims to achieve an annual production rate of 600,000 EVs worldwide by the close of 2023, and 2 million EVs globally by 2026, with the Michigan plant being one step in the direction of accomplishing its objective.
