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Ford plans to cut around 4,000 jobs in Europe as the automaker struggles with demand for electric vehicles and fierce competition from Chinese rivals.
The US company on Wednesday said the cuts would take place by the end of 2027 and would affect 2,900 jobs in Germany and 800 in Britain, representing about 14 percent of its 28,000 workforce in Europe.
Ford’s two UK sites, Dagenham and Halewood, and its factory in Valencia, Spain, will not be affected. But officials said the cuts would involve administrative roles as well as jobs related to gasoline engine production.
Dave Johnston, Ford’s European vice president, said that despite the job losses, the company remains committed to the region. “It is important to take tough but decisive action to ensure Ford’s competitiveness in Europe,” he said.
The move is pending discussions with unions and the government. “We reject these massive job cuts,” said Benjamin Gruschka, head of Ford’s works council. “Further staff cuts are not a sustainable business strategy.”
The global auto industry is under intense pressure to close plants and cut workforces in Europe and elsewhere amid growing EV sales and fierce price competition from rival China.
Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, also plans to close at least three German plants and ax tens of thousands of jobs due to a loss of market share in China and sluggish demand for vehicles in Europe.
Ford has been struggling in Europe, where it has been posting losses and cutting jobs for years. To deal with slow demand, the company has reduced the number of vehicles in its lineup to focus on more profitable areas in a competitive market.
Peter Godsell, vice president of Ford’s Europe and international markets group, said he could not rule out further restructuring measures, blaming “unprecedented” regulatory and economic problems.
“We have to find a way here with a viable and profitable business moving forward,” he said.
Ford earlier last year said it would cut 3,800 jobs in Europe, including 1,300 in the UK.
Jim Farley, the chief executive, has also warned that the production of electric cars requires 40 percent less labor than vehicles with internal combustion engines.
Ford also said it will reduce production for the new Explorer, an electric sports utility vehicle developed and built in Germany, and the electric Capri that will result in shorter working hours at the Cologne plant. The company has invested $2bn to convert its factories to produce EVs.
Industry headwinds are also increasing due to tougher emissions rules in the UK and on the continent. Sales of electric vehicles in major markets such as Germany have fallen sharply in recent months after governments suddenly withdrew or reduced subsidies for EV purchases.
Ford finance chief John Lawler recently issued a statement to the German government, urging it to do more to improve market conditions and provide flexibility to meet emissions targets.
“What Europe and Germany lack is a clear and distinct policy agenda to advance e-mobility,” Lawler said in the letter.
Earlier on Wednesday, workers at Volkswagen said they were prepared to forego €1.5bn in future pay rises if executives at the German company agreed to cancel bonuses, cut dividends and cancel plans to close factories.
In a joint press conference, the chief negotiator of the IG Metall trade union Thorsten Gröger and the head of the VW works council Daniela Cavallo, proposed that the 7 percent wage increase previously demanded go to a “solidarity fund” to support wages during the short-term reduction in hours.
The proposed package – the first concession between increasingly tense VW workers and managers – means executives give up part of their bonus over the next two years, as well as a “contribution through dividend policy”.
If VW executives do not agree to scrap plans to close at least three factories in Germany, IG Metall’s Gröger said, they will have to prepare for “an industrial dispute unlike anything the country has seen in decades”. The potential attack on VW’s German site will be possible from December 1st.
