Ford to cut 1,300 jobs from its UK workforce 

The American carmaker is reducing its headcount in Britain by a fifth as it moves to shift production towards electric cars.

Ford will reduce its global headcount by 3,800 across Europe, including 2,300 jobs in Germany. It said 2,800 engineering roles will be axed by 2025, and around 1,000 jobs in its administrative, marketing, sales and distribution teams across Europe are set to go.

The company intends to achieve the reductions through voluntary redundancies.

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Head of Ford Germany Martin Sander, who is also general manager of its electric-vehicle business in Europe, said: "These are difficult decisions, not taken lightly. We recognise the uncertainty it creates for our team, and I assure them we will be offering them our full support in the months ahead."

The company plans to introduce nine new electric vehicles by 2024 – at least two of which will be based on the Volkswagen Group’s tried-and-tested MEB platform meaning Ford can lean on Volkswagen’s engineers, saving time and money on developing its own pure-electric platform, according to Car magazine.

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Sander said: "There is significantly less work to be done on drivetrains moving out of combustion engines. 

"We are moving into a world with less global platforms where less engineering work is necessary. This is why we have to make the adjustments."

"Here in Europe we’ve got a pretty difficult economic situation, and the outlook is uncertain," said Tim Slatter, chairman of Ford of Britain.

"High inflation, higher interest rates, the ongoing war in Ukraine, cost of energy and so on."

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The Unite union said it would work to protect as many of the jobs as possible. 

National officer Des Quinn said: “Ford’s announcement is another stark reminder that the shift to electrification needs a just transition that requires long-term investment and planning from automakers and a proper industrial strategy from government.”

He added: “The UK is being perilously left behind by competitor nations whose governments have had the foresight to implement a strategy for green vehicle production and green transport networks."