Ford Motor Co. is preparing to trim about 1,000 salaried jobs in North America, looking to its home market for savings as part of an $11 billion global restructuring begun two years ago as it projects an operating loss this year.
The job cuts are aimed at improving the Dearborn-based automaker’s efficiency and are not related to rising costs from the coronavirus pandemic, said people familiar with the action on Monday who asked not to be identified revealing internal plans. An announcement could come as early as this week, the people said.
Ford is in the midst of a sweeping reorganization as it seeks to reverse declining fortunes and achieve what Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett calls financial “fitness.” The company expects to report a full-year operating loss for the first time in a decade.
Last year, Ford closed plants and eliminated thousands of jobs in Europe, where it has been losing money. In North America — the automaker’s most profitable region thanks to F-Series pickups — the cutbacks are smaller and are expected to come in the form of voluntary buyouts. They are in addition to 2,300 previously announced salaried job reductions in the U.S. during Hackett’s tenure.
Ford cut 7,000 salaried positions worldwide last year in the first round of the global overhaul. Those reductions were expected to save the company $600 million a year. The carmaker had a worldwide workforce of 190,000 people at the end of 2019.
A Ford spokesman declined to comment on the latest cuts.
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