Ford wants to cut another 4,000 jobs in Europe by the end of 2027. The American car manufacturer announced this on Wednesday, amid a general malaise in the sector and a slower-than-expected breakthrough of often more expensive electric vehicles. It is still unclear whether there are also Belgian jobs among them.
This concerns 14 percent of the total workforce in Europe. The biggest blows will be in Germany: 2,900 jobs will disappear there, the majority of which are in the Cologne factory. 800 jobs will disappear in the United Kingdom and the remaining 300 jobs will be lost in other European countries.
Ford has its European headquarters in Cologne and makes the two electric models Explorer and Capri. About 11,500 people are currently still working there, meaning that about a quarter of the jobs are now disappearing. The intervention is associated with lower production numbers for the Explorer and Capri.
Also in Belgium?
It is not yet clear whether jobs are also at risk in Belgium. Ford has a test track in Lommel, Limburg, where, according to a Belgian spokesperson for the manufacturer, around 300 people still work. In addition, there are approximately fifty employees in the offices in Brussels.
At the beginning of last year, Ford also made significant cuts to its European workforce. Then the car manufacturer announced that 3,800 jobs would disappear in the following years.