On Monday, American auto-manufacturing giant Ford announced its plans to cut over 3,000 jobs at various manufacturing facilities across the United States, Canada, and India, as the company prepares for a shift into the electric vehicle market.
According to ABC News, the company announced the decision in a company-wide letter to employees, which stated that the layoffs will affect 2,000 salaried employees and another 1,000 agency positions. This will ultimately impact 6 percent of the company’s salaried workers in Canada and the United States.
The letter was signed by the CEO of Ford himself, Jim Farley. The employees who are to be laid off will be informed privately later this week.
The mass layoffs are the result of the company attempting to address all aspects of costs to improve our competitiveness and ensure we can fully invest in growth,” as the company struggles to keep up with its rivals in the industry.
The letter continues, with Farley and Executive Chairman Bill Ford further explaining that the company’s reshaping will include “redeploying resources and addressing our cost structure, which is uncompetitive versus traditional and new competitors.” They specifically mentioned that entering the electric vehicle market provides the company with “an opportunity to lead.”
Back in July, Farley said during a company-wide quarterly earnings call that Ford “absolutely [has] too many people in certain places, no doubt about it.”
In conjunction with the layoffs, Ford has focused on expanding the hiring of workers who will specialize in the manufacturing of electric vehicles. The company announced back in June that it would spend $3.7 billion investing in factories that will focus on electric vehicles, including the creation of 6,200 union manufacturing jobs and 74,000 indirect jobs by the end of 2026.
The company is set to soon announce its first lineup of electric vehicles, which will include an electric Mustang, a Ranger pickup truck, and a professional commercial vehicle.