Ford will cut thousands of jobs as it eyes transition to electric vehicles

Losses could come in newly created ‘Ford Blue’ unit, report says

Ford will cut 8,000 jobs in in the coming weeks in a bid to reduce costs and bolster investment in electric vehicles, a report has said.

The Detroit-based company has not confirmed the cuts, which were first revealed on Wednesday by Bloomberg, and could still change.

According to the report, about 8,000 jobs could be cut from the newly created Ford Blue unit working on the company’s internal combustion engine operations.

Cuts, which could begin before the end of the summer, will also reportedly occur in other areas of the motor business and among salaried employees.

Ford will reportedly use the savings to invest further in electric vehicles, aiming to produce more than 2 million a year by 2026. The company is expected to tell its investors of its plans on Thursday.

TR Red, a spokesperson for Ford, said in a statement to Reuters that the company was committed to “reshaping our work and modernising our organisation”, but would not confirm the cuts.

“We remain focused on reshaping our work and modernising our organization across all automotive business units and across the company,” Mr Reid said. “As part of this, we have laid out clear targets to lower our cost structure to ensure we are lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry”.

Ford’s chief executive officer Jim Farley said earlier this year the company needed to find $50bn in profits from the sale of diesel engine vehicles – and via the innovation of the Ford Blue unit – to fund further investment in electric vehicles, of which only 27,140 were sold by Ford in the US last year.

In July, Ford reported selling 76.6 per cent more electric vehicles than a year ago with 4,353 units sold in June alone, according motor news site CBT News.

So far this year, electric vehicle sales in the US have been twice the amount of last year, but as The New York Times reported last week, the figure is still only around five per cent of the overall sales market.

Additional reporting by Reuters