Because not many people know about it
By Paul Homewood
Ford won’t be the last.
Ford has announced it will cut 800 jobs in the UK over the next three years.
The move is part of a major restructuring programme, which will see 4,000 posts closed across Europe.
The company said it had to act due to difficult trading conditions, including strong competition and low demand for electric vehicles.
However, the cuts will not affect our manufacturing sites in Dagenham and Halewood, or our logistics base in Southampton. Ford said it hopes to make up the majority of the job cuts through voluntary redundancies.
“Making this announcement is not something anyone wants to do, and I appreciate it will have a significant impact on our employees,” said Lisa Brankin, Ford’s UK and Ireland managing director.
“This is not news that anyone wants to hear. So the goal is to try to deliver this through voluntary redundancies.
Ford has 5,300 employees in the UK.
The restructuring plan will cut 15% of the workforce. The majority of them are expected to be in administrative or product development roles.
It is the second round of cuts to Ford’s UK operations in less than two years. In March 2023 he said 1,300 jobs have to goone-fifth of the workforce, the most at the Dunton site.
The latest announcement comes as automakers across Europe struggle.
Among the problems it faces are high energy costs, weaker-than-expected demand for electric cars and growing competition from Chinese manufacturers.
Many of the continent’s biggest names, including Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz and BMW have seen profits collapse this year.
Volkswagen is even considering closing factories in Germany, a step it would not have taken before.
“The automotive industry is experiencing a lot of disruption right now,” Ms Brankin said.
“We have competition, regulation and a lot of economic problems that we didn’t have before”
The pressure put Ford on hard times. The automaker is trying to shake off its past as a mass manufacturer of cheap “runabouts,” and position itself as a more upscale brand, focusing on electric cars. last year, it stopped making Fiesta after nearly five decades.
In addition to the cuts in the UK, Ford will cut 2,900 jobs in Germany and another 300 in the rest of Europe.
Meanwhile in Britain, the government came under strong pressure from the car industry through rules designed to force people to build more electric vehicles. The issue will be discussed at a meeting between industry and ministers on Wednesday evening.
According to the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, which came into effect this year, at least 22% of cars sold must be classified as zero emission. If manufacturers fail to meet their quotas, they can be fined up to £15,000 per car.
Some carmakers have struggled to meet their targets, despite flexible mechanisms built into the rules that should allow them to avoid fines.
But that quota will rise to 28% next year, and to 33% in 2026 – rising every year after reaching 80% in 2030.
The manufacturer insists that it happens very quickly. Although sales of new EVs are rising – with one in five cars sold in October powered by batteries, he says this is misleading.
They claim demand for electric cars is not yet high enough, forcing them to offer unsustainable discounts to meet their targets.
Some have called for the government to reduce the quota, to give them more time.
Others say it should offer taxpayer-funded incentives for electric cars, and do more to assure car buyers that sufficient charging infrastructure will be built.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20626dy9d6o
The three problems identified – EVs, energy prices and competition from China – can be laid directly at the door of successive governments.
As we have known from the beginning, there is not enough demand for EVs to meet the mandated targets. Manufacturers have been forced to offer unaffordable discounts for EVs, and are now discounting ICE cars, in order to artificially increase the EV ratio. Even then, some will still not meet the ZEV target, and carrying the deficit forward is a mug’s game.
And it’s also obvious that banning the sale of petrol/diesel cars will open the door for cheap Chinese EVs. All we are doing is throwing away the technological advantages that British and European manufacturers have built up over the years.
Energy prices, of course, speak for themselves.
Unless the EV craze is abandoned and electricity prices are reduced to competitive levels, the UK and European car industry will be smaller within a decade.
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