Ford To Cut Jobs In Europe As It Prepares For Electric Lineup

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Ford is making big changes to its strategy in Europe. The Blue oval manufacturer wants to move away from the low-margin volume segments and instead focus on niche cars and electric vehicles. This business transformation, however, will affect the jobs of more than 1,000 employees in Germany, according to a new report.

Automotive News has a new article detailing Ford’s European plans for the future and how the company wants to cut a four-digit number of its German workforce. Employees from different divisions of the automaker will be affected, including development, manufacturing, marketing and sales, and administration. People from both Ford’s headquarters and factory in Cologne, Germany, are expected to lose their jobs.

As part of its transformation, Ford will discontinue mainstream models such as the Fiesta and Focus, which have been core products for the company in the last more than two decades. The Mondeo, once a popular D-segment vehicle with solid sales in Germany and the UK, is already in the history. The S-Max and Galaxy, which share the same platform with the Mondeo, are also being retired.

Ford wants to have a fully electric model range in Europe by the end of the current decade. Before that happens, it will sell combustion-powered products from its American portfolio, including the Mustang, Explorer, and Bronco. Meanwhile, the automaker is also investing about $2 billion into its Cologne plant where two electric models based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform will be produced starting in 2024.

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In the preparations for its new electric model lineup, Ford will have to say goodbye to 1,000 or more of its employees in Germany. The head of the Cologne plant’s works council is holding a meeting with all 14,000 workers at the site today. Ford didn’t provide a comment on the situation and only told Automotive News a “significant change” is in the way it produces cars.