By Christian George
The American car manufacturer, Ford, has concluded plans to trim its workforce by 3800 in the space of three years.
Those affected include products development and administrative staff in Europe.
The company said on Tuesday that the aftermath of the reduction of staff strength is not unconnected with rising costs and the need for a leaner structure as it pivots production to electric vehicles.
According to Reuters, about 2300 jobs will go at the carmaker’s Cologne and Aachen sites in Germany, 1,300 in the UK and 200 in the rest of Europe, the company said, adding that it intends to achieve the reductions through voluntary separation programmes.
The number conflicts with union’s estimation of about 2500 job cut in Europe .
However, European passenger electric vehicle chief and head of Ford Germany Martin Sander, said that 3,400 engineers will be retained in the region to build on core technology provided by their U.S. counterparts and adapt it to European customers.
