Ford will axe 3800 jobs in Europe while bringing 2500 jobs to America

The car-making giant Ford recently announced plans to downsize the business’s engineer base in Europe by removing 2,800 from its headcount. The company will also be eliminating 1,000 corporate and distribution roles within the next three years. This is akin to Ford cutting one out of nine jobs in Europe. But the business has plans to create 2,500 battery manufacturing jobs in the US, which is good news for American job seekers.

Ford’s plans to reduce headcount on the continent would greatly affect the UK market. 1,300 Ford jobs in the UK will be phased out over a three-year period. This affects one in five jobs that Ford currently hosts in the United Kingdom. Out of these affected roles, 1,000 are in product development, while the remainder of the workers are in product development functions.

A total of 2,300 jobs will be cut in Germany alone by Ford. This will affect 12% of Ford’s workforce in Germany. According to Ford, this was a “difficult decision, not taken lightly." Ford elaborated, saying that the company is working with social partners to reduce headcount through voluntary agreements with employees.

The job cuts were justified by the automobile manufacturer explaining how it needs to create a leaner cost structure, which will cause 1,000 jobs across Europe to get cut. These jobs are in various fields, including administration, marketing, sales, and distribution. The company wants to go for a smaller and increasingly electric product portfolio, which is one of the key reasons behind downsizing its engineer base.

Ford dedicated a giant £380 million fund to converting its gearbox factory at Halewood on Merseyside to an electric motor manufacturing plant. However, Ford believes that the North American market is crucial for it to achieve the company’s EV manufacturing targets.

As a result, Ford announced earlier this week that it will invest $3.5 billion in a new electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall, Michigan. The new plant, which will employ 2,500 people initially, will begin producing lithium iron phosphate batteries in 2026. Once the production begins scaling up, Ford will hire even more American staff to man the factory.

Ford’s overall EV investments in North America will eventually create over 118,000 direct and indirect jobs. Ford notes how their decision to build in Michigan will benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).