Ford Australia cuts another 400 design and engineering jobs loses 40 per cent of workforce in one year

The Australian division of US car giant Ford will make approximately 400 employees redundant in its latest wave of job cuts – representing a workforce reduction of almost 40 per cent compared to this time last year.

Ford Australia has confirmed another 400 jobs are on the chopping block as the US car-maker continues to downsize its local operations.

A spokesperson for Ford in Australia told Drive the redundancies would mainly affect vehicle design and engineering staff, though a number of employees from other departments of the business will also be laid off.

“We have begun consultation with our employees and unions on our intention to offer a separation program for approximately 400 of our 1800 employees in Australia,” said the Ford Australia spokesperson. 

“The majority of these will be in product development and design, with a small number in other functions. The changes are part of Ford’s global drive to improve efficiency and transform its operations to meet future needs.”

The redundancies will affect approximately 22 per cent of Ford’s current Australian workforce, which will be reduced to about 1400 staff – or close to 900 fewer employees than the same time last year.

In October 2022, Drive reported Ford Australia had stood down 120 contract positions among approximately 2300 staff, which was followed by a ‘voluntary separation program’ earlier this year in which approximately 170 product development and design employees departed the car-maker’s local operations.

The lay-offs across Ford Australia have occurred in the 18 months following the launch of the new-generation Ranger ute and Everest SUV twins-under-the-skin, which arrived in showrooms in June 2022 and August 2022, respectively.

The Ford Ranger and Everest’s design and development was headed up by the company’s Australian teams, though the locally-delivered body-on-frame vehicles are built in Thailand.

Despite Ford’s Australian assembly lines closing in 2016, the US car giant’s local design and engineering workforce grew in the following years.

Ford has been downsizing its global operations in the past 12 months, announcing in August 2022 that approximately 3000 job losses were projected as a part of the company’s move towards electrification.

“Building this future requires changing and reshaping virtually all aspects of the way we have operated for more than a century,” Ford CEO Jim Farley and Executive Chairman Bill Ford said in a letter to staff.

“It requires focus, clarity and speed. And, as we have discussed in recent months, it means redeploying resources and addressing our cost structure, which is uncompetitive versus traditional and new competitors.”

In Australia, Ford’s new-vehicle sales have improved by 29 per cent between January and May 2023 compared to the same period 12 months prior, reporting 30,429 sales – largely attributed to the Ranger ute (21,407 examples sold this year).

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