Ford Confirms Layoffs, Says It Cut About 3,000 Jobs | Daily News Byte

The 1% reduction in Ford’s workforce of about 183,000 mostly targets employees in the US, Canada and India. About 2,000 of the targeted cuts will be salaried jobs at the Dearborn, Mich., auto maker. The remaining 1,000 employees work in contract positions with outside agencies, the company said.

The cuts were unexpected. The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets reported in July that the layoffs were coming for white-collar staff as part of a broader restructuring to sharpen the car company’s focus on de- electric vehicles and the batteries that power them.

Ford shares closed up 3.9% each on Monday, after news of a $1.7 billion jury verdict in a lawsuit involving a rollover accident involving one of the company’s F-250 pickup trucks that killed two people.

The company’s email, signed by Executive Chair Bill Ford and Chief Executive Jim Farley, said Ford is changing the way it operates and redeploying resources as it embraces new technologies that were not previously core to its operations, such as developing advanced software for its vehicles . The job cuts are effective Sept. 1, a spokeswoman said.

“Building this future requires changing and reshaping almost every aspect of the way we have operated for more than a century,” the internal message said.

Mr. Farley said recently that Ford has too many employees, and that the current workforce does not have the expertise needed to transition to a portfolio of software-laden electric vehicles.

He said he aims to cut $3 billion in annual costs by 2026 as part of his goal of reaching a 10% pretax profit margin by then, up from 7.3% last year.

Like many global automakers, Ford is pouring money into electric vehicles in an effort to close the sales gap with Tesla Inc.

The company said it will spend about $50 billion through 2026 to develop EVs, targeting global sales of two million by then.

Mr. Farley earlier this year split the company into separate divisions, including one to focus on electric vehicles and advanced technologies, and another to handle its traditional in-house vehicle lines.

He said revenues from its lineup of gasoline and diesel-engine vehicles will help fund the transition, but that part of the business must perform better.

Write to Nora Eckert at nora.eckert@wsj.com