√Shift to electrification claims 3000 jobs at Ford

As the Blue Oval begins its transition away from petrol and diesel cars, the US giant has cut jobs at its global offices, but Australian workers will not be affected.

The move towards electrification at Ford Motor Company is going to result in 3000 job losses among salaried staff and company consultants in the USA, Canada and India.

Australian workers are not involved in the cull, although 120 consultants were laid off last week in an unrelated staff cut.

The global move, which was announced by Ford’s Executive Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley in a letter to staff, comes as Ford is looking to slash $US3 billion ($AU4.35 billion) from its bottom line to boost its future competitiveness with electric vehicle rivals.

“Building this future requires changing and reshaping virtually all aspects of the way we have operated for more than a century,” Farley and Ford wrote.

“It requires focus, clarity and speed. And, as we have discussed in recent months, it means redeploying resources and addressing our cost structure, which is uncompetitive versus traditional and new competitors.”

In Australia, Ford spokesman Matt Moran told Drive there would be no job losses as a result of the announcement in the USA.

“As we continue to deliver our Ford+ plan for growth and value creation, we are working to address all aspects of costs to improve our competitiveness and ensure we can fully invest in growth,” Moran said in an official Ford statement.

However, he confirmed that Ford Australia had trimmed the size of its product development team and design teams just three days ahead of the news from the USA.

“In Australia, we’re reaching the next phase of our product development and launch cycle and as a result will be reducing our contract workforce by approximately 120,” he said in the statement.

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