Ford Motor Co. is planning to slash 3,800 jobs in Europe over the next three years to lower costs and boost profits as it continues to shift toward electric vehicles, the auto maker said on Tuesday.
The bulk of the job cuts would primarily hit Ford’s European product development staff, reducing the number of Europe-based engineers as the company relies more heavily on U.S. development and electric vehicle technology it has licensed from Volkswagen AG in the future.
“This will impact the organizational structure, talent, and skills we will need in the future,” Martin Sander, the executive in charge of electrifying the company’s product line in Europe, told reporters on a telephone conference.
Most of the European job cuts will come from Ford’s staff at its German operations in Cologne and Aachen, Mr. Sander told reporters, where 2,300 jobs will be cut. Another 1,300 jobs are to be eliminated in the U.K. and the remaining 200 across Europe.
The German job cuts outlined on Tuesday don’t include potential job losses at its Saarlouis plant, where production of the Ford Focus compact is due to end in 2025. Ford employs around 4,600 people in Saarlouis.