Ford Planning More Layoffs Inside Europe

Ford Motor Co. has been trimming back operations in Europe for years and is reportedly planning to cut 4,000 positions in Europe by the end of 2027. The presumed culprit is lackluster interest in all-electric vehicles — models that were supposed to help the company grow inside the region, due to government action, and eventually become the dominant mode of transportation.

This is rather ironic, especially considering that the automaker’s CFO recently indicated that the business intends on running with its preexisting EV strategy while acknowledging the incoming Trump administration has discussed limiting subsidies for all-electric vehicles. But you can’t always believe what you hear, especially when it’s coming from the mouths of executives.

Like many automakers, Ford went into this decade vowing to pivot toward all-electric vehicles by the end of 2030. Analysis were likewise assuring everyone that EVs would reach market parity with combustion vehicles by 2025 and go on to become the dominant mode of transportation. But we are nowhere near those goals. EVs are still priced significantly higher than their combustion counterparts and have not seen the promised demand due to lackluster charging infrastructure and range limitations.

However, those are issues that are less dire in Europe than inside the United States. The EU also has more aggressive emission rules that have made EVs more common, shorter average driving distances, and a charging infrastructure that’s admittedly better than what you’d find in the United States and Canada. Despite this, things haven’t gone according to plan — and not just for Ford.

Most of the large legacy automakers that promised to go entirely electric (e.g. Volkswagen) are starting to announce profit warnings. Much of this is due to the fact that vehicle pricing and market conditions are discouraging people from buying new cars. But the pivot to EVs has been incredibly expensive, with most companies still losing money on all-electric products that are simultaneously being subsidized by the government. In 2023, Ford announced that it would need to eliminate 3,800 as the EV side of the business remained a money pit.

Things don’t appear to have improved for 2024, with Bloomberg confirming 4,000 additional job cuts focused on Ford facilities in Germany and the United Kingdom. This amounts to about 14 percent of its total European workforce and will coincide with scaling back assembly on all-electric versions of the Explorer and Capri.

“What we lack in Europe and Germany is an unmistakable, clear policy agenda to advance e-mobility,” John Lawler, Ford’s vice chairman and CFO, stated.

That’s executive-speak for wanting taxpayers to continue footing the bill for EVs and making the government mandate the pivot to all-electric vehicles — something many automakers assumed would be more profitable. But Ford would likewise accept lessened emission rules, allowing them to field vehicles that didn’t have to adhere to such rigid tailpipe regulations, if it cannot get what it wants in terms of electrification.

[Image: Ford]

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Source: The Truth About Cars