Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, January 24 (Xinhua) Ford plans to cut 3200 jobs in Europe and transfer some product development work to the United States, the German IG Metall union said on Monday. The union said that if layoffs continue, it will disrupt automakers across the continent.

PexelsIG Metall said Ford wanted to cut 2500 product development jobs and another 700 executive jobs, with Germany being the most affected.

The Ford Cologne plant employs about 14000 people, including 3800 working at a development center near Merkenich, who were informed of the plans at a workers' committee meeting on Monday.

Ford declined to comment, saying in a statement on Friday that a shift to electric vehicle production would require structural adjustments, but that no further information would be disclosed until the plan was finalized.

Ford announced last year that it would invest $2 billion to expand production at its Cologne plant, which now makes Ford Fiesta as well as engines and gearboxes, to make popular all-electric models.

Ford is planning to launch seven new electric models in Europe, set up a battery assembly base in Germany and set up a nickel battery manufacturing joint venture in Turkey as part of a big push for electric vehicles (EV) on the continent.

Ford has also established a partnership with Volkswagen to produce 1.2 million vehicles on the German carmaker's MEB electric platform within six years.

But Ford warned in June that it would make significant layoffs in the near future at its plants in Spain and in Saruis, Germany, as the shift to electric car production means less labor time is needed to assemble cars.

CTOnews.com learned that Ford Europe manufactures, sells and serves Ford-branded cars in 50 markets and employs about 45000 people at its own facilities and in combined joint ventures.

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