Ford Motor Co. plans to cut up to 3,200 jobs across Europe and move some product development to the United States, Germany’s IG Metall union said on Monday, promising action that could undermine the automaker on the continent if the cuts go ahead, Reuters reported. .

Rising costs of materials for electric vehicle batteries and a projected slowdown in the US and European economies are forcing automakers to cut costs.

The electric car price war launched by Tesla earlier this month has added to that pressure, analysts said.

The company wants to cut up to 2,500 jobs in product development and up to 700 in administrative positions, with German plants most affected, IG Metall said.

Workers at the American carmaker’s Cologne plant, which employs about 14,000 people, including 3,800 at a development center in the Merkenich district, were told of the plans at works council meetings on Monday.

A Ford spokesman in Germany declined to comment, referring to a statement on Friday in which he said the transition to electric vehicle (EV) production required structural changes and would not say more until the plans were finalised.

A representative at the automaker’s headquarters in Michigan said talks with German works councils are ongoing and that the company needs to be “more competitive” as it moves to electric vehicles.

He did not comment on specific work plans.

Last year, Ford announced a $2 billion investment to expand production at its Cologne plant to create an all-electric model for the mass market.

The plant now produces the Ford Fiesta as well as engines and transmissions.

The carmaker, which employs about 45,000 people in Europe, plans to build seven new electric models in the region, a battery assembly plant in Germany and a joint venture to produce nickel cells in Turkey as part of its main electric vehicle production on the continent.

Ford is also partnering with Volkswagen to build 1.2 million vehicles on the German automaker’s MEB electric platform over six years.

That partnership remains in place, Ford and Volkswagen officials said, although a Ford U.S. spokesman added that Volkswagen’s role in the next generation of Ford’s European electric vehicles has yet to be determined.

However, last June the company warned of “significant” job cuts in the short term at its factory in Spain and its factory in Saarlouis, Germany, as the switch to electric cars means fewer man hours will be needed to assemble the cars.

Ford’s pretax profit in Europe was 2.2 percent of sales for the first nine months of 2022, well below the North American rate.

Also in October, Ford warned about the deterioration of the economic situation in Europe.

(Source: news.ro / photo source: Jozef Soos | Dreamstime.com)