Ford: New Job Cuts in Europe

A new cut of 4,000 jobs in Europe announced today (20.11.2024) the American multinational industry, by the end of 2027, mainly in Germany and the United Kingdom, as an indication of the difficulties facing the industry. As Ford reported “The company has suffered significant losses in recent years and the industry’s turn towards electric vehicles and competition was very damaging”. Sales of electric cars have been recording a decline in the last year in Europe, while social measures programmes are increasing between manufacturers and car suppliers, also affected by increasing Chinese competition. The plan announced by Ford represents 14% of the group’s workforce in Europe. Among these redundancies, 2,900 concern Germany, 800 the United Kingdom and 300 the rest of Europe, a Ford representative, who employs 174,000 people around the world, including 32,000 in Europe, told the French Agency. This announcement is added to the 3,800-seat cuts announced last year in Europe. The US multinational giant, one of the pillars of the European car industry, sees its market shares collapse over the last 20 years and reach 4.4% of the sales of new cars in 2023 worldwide, far behind Volkswagen (6%) and Toyota (10.7%). Ford stressed that it addressed the German government to seek investment in charging infrastructure as well as “essential incentives to help consumers turn to electric vehicles”, as Germany put an end last year to environmental bonuses for electric vehicles. The German economy, whose car industry is one of the main pillars, is particularly affected by the difficulties of the industry. Volkswagen, a German flagship and the largest European car industry, is going through an unprecedented crisis and is currently negotiating an important savings plan that could lead to thousands of redundancies or even factory closures. Source: RES – ICM