Ford has confirmed rumors about plans to significantly reduce its European workforce as it prepares for an inevitable electric future. In the next three years, the Blue Oval will eliminate a total of 3,800 jobs. The reduced complexity of EVs has prompted the company to cut 2,800 engineering positions. The other 1,000 jobs will be from administrative, marketing, sales, and distribution.
A closer look at the numbers reveals 2,300 employees will be let go in Germany and another 1,300 in the UK, with the remaining 200 jobs in other parts of Europe. By 2025, Ford will have 3,400 people still working in engineering. Explaining the job cuts, Martin Sander, General Manager of Ford Model e in Europe told Automotive News:
"There is significantly less work to be done on drivetrains moving out of combustion engines. We are moving into a world with less global platforms where less engineering work is necessary. This is why we have to make the adjustments."
Despite cutting jobs, the company intends to live up to its promise to have an all-electric fleet on the Old Continent by 2035. It'll kick-start the EV revolution later this year with a crossover (pictured here in prototype form) manufactured in Cologne, Germany on the Volkswagen Group's MEB platform. A second electric model on the same underpinnings is also planned. What to expect from these models? One will be an ID.4 with boxy styling and the other could take the shape of a sleeker ID.5-like EV.
Ford Electric Crossover Spy Photos
A battery-powered version of the Puma subcompact crossover has already been teased ahead of a 2024 launch. It'll be made in Craiova, Romania, and ride on an electric adaptation of the platform that has underpinned the Fiesta. Speaking of which, the switch to EVs comes at the expense of traditional cars powered by combustion engines as the supermini will be dropped from the lineup this year.
We'll remind you the midsize Mondeo has already been discontinued while the Focus will follow suit in 2025. At the Saarlouis factory in Germany where the compact model is produced, the automaker doesn't intend to make any other cars after the Focus is axed. Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported Ford is interested in selling the plant to China's BYD.
