The American car manufacturer Ford announced on Friday the elimination of nearly 1,100 jobs at its factory in Valencia, in eastern Spain, as part of a social plan linked to the reorganization of its production in Europe.
“
About 1,100 jobs are affected
,” said a company spokeswoman in a statement sent to AFP, explaining this decision by stopping production of the S-Max and Galaxy models in this factory in April 2023.
The group “
will work constructively with the unions to reduce the impact
” of this social plan “
on the employees, their families and the local community
”, added this spokesperson.
This social plan, presented Friday morning to the unions, comes on top of the 3,800 job cuts in Europe already announced in mid-February by the American group, mainly in Germany (2,000) and the United Kingdom (1,300).
Race to electric
These 3,800 job cuts by 2025, representing around 10% of Ford's current European workforce, will mainly concern product research and development (R&D) teams, not vehicle production.
The American manufacturer had justified this cut in its workforce by its desire to set up a “
more competitive cost structure
” in Europe, where it is encountering difficulties.
As part of this, it will reduce the number of models designed for Europe by focusing on its battery-powered models and its highly profitable commercial vehicle sales.
The manufacturer, which was once one of the mainstays of the European car industry, has seen its market share plummet over the past twenty years in Europe.
It represented 4.6% of new car sales there in 2022, with 516,614 units sold.
Like the entire automotive industry, Ford is engaged in the race towards electric, a technology that requires heavy research expenditure, complete modernization of factories, and in which it plans to invest 50 billion dollars by 2026. These various social plans come as fears of a relocation of automotive industries are mounting in Europe since Washington introduced large subsidies for electric vehicles built in the United States.