Ford has said that it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, becoming the latest carmaker to seek to reduce costs amid slowing growth in electric car sales and competition from China.
The American carmaker said on Wednesday it would cut 800 jobs in the UK and 2,900 in Germany. The company’s UK sites in Dagenham and Halewood will not be affected.
The cuts represent about 14% of its 28,000 workforce in Europe and will be completed by the end of 2027.
Ford is the latest in a series of global carmakers to aim for cost savings as the industry struggles with waning demand while also trying to invest in the transition to electric cars.
The company also cut back planned production of the new electric Explorer and Capri models, citing the “weak economic situation and lower-than-expected demand for electric cars”. Ford’s factory in Cologne, Germany, will reduce its hours of production after the company spent $2bn (£1.6bn) upgrading it to make battery cars.
A series of carmakers have this year said they plan to sell more hybrid cars, which combine an internal combustion engine with a smaller battery. They include Ford’s US operations, which cancelled an electric SUV in August, Japan’s Toyota, Sweden’s Volvo and the luxury carmaker Bentley in the UK.
Ford said Europe’s carmakers “face significant competitive and economic headwinds while also tackling a misalignment between CO2 regulations and consumer demand for electrified vehicles”.
The cuts will affect product development in Europe, as well as administrative areas such as finance, human resources and government affairs.
Ford did not specify where the British job cuts would fall. It employs about 6,500 people in the UK, including at a technical centre in Dunton, Essex, where it develops the Transit van.
As the UK car industry prepared to meet British ministers later on Wednesday, Peter Godsell, vice-president of Ford in Europe, also called for a relaxation of rules on the UK’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. Under the mandate, carmakers must sell an increasing proportion of electric cars each year.
“The UK ZEV mandate is challenging,” said Godsell. “The market conditions are making it unworkable at the moment. It’s a really unstable environment.”
Manufacturers have been increasingly open with criticisms of the rules, although charger companies and fleet owners argue that changing the rules would imperil billions of pounds of investments.
John Lawler, Ford’s chief financial officer, said carmakers needed government help to improve market conditions across Europe.
“What we lack in Europe and Germany is an unmistakable, clear policy agenda to advance e-mobility, such as public investments in charging infrastructure, meaningful incentives to help consumers make the shift to electrified vehicles, improving cost competitiveness for manufacturers, and greater flexibility in meeting CO2 compliance targets,” he said.
