Competitive, Economic Headwinds in EU EV Market Cause Ford to Cut 4000 Jobs
Ford specifically calls out the ‘misalignment’ between Europe’s CO2 regulations and the consumer demand for EVs.
The hits to the electric vehicle (EV) market keep coming.
Now it is being reported that Ford Motor Co. will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe and the U.K. by the end of 2027, citing headwinds from the economy, pressure from increased competition, and weak EV car sales.
What is most interesting is that the company specifically calls out the ‘misalignment’ between Europe’s CO2 regulations and the consumer demand for EVs.
Ford said Wednesday most of the job cuts would come in Germany and would be carried out in consultation with employee representatives.
Of the total, 2,900 jobs would be lost in Germany, 800 in Britain and 300 in other European Union countries. Ford has 28,000 employees in Europe, and 174,000 worldwide.
“The global auto industry continues to be in a period of significant disruption as it shifts to electrified mobility,” the company said in a statement. “The transformation is particularly intense in Europe where automakers face significant competitive and economic headwinds while also tackling a misalignment between CO2 regulations and consumer demand for electrified vehicles,” the statement said.
The European technocrats really have indulged in their green-fever-dreams. Some sensible European leaders and automobile industry officials are tying desperately to wake everyone up to realities.
Ford’s downsizing comes after Parliament, in 2023, approved a stricter green energy target of zero CO2 emissions for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by 2035. The EU set an emissions reduction target of 55% for cars and 50% for vans by 2030.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently criticized the EU’s standards, saying in September that “the ban on endothermic engine (cars) from 2035 is one of the most obvious example of a self-destructive approach.”
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) also suggested the industry is still missing crucial infrastructure necessary in reaching the zero-emission standard for vehicles.
“The zero-emission transition is highly challenging, with concerns about meeting the 2025 CO2 emission reduction targets for cars and vans on the rise,” the ACEA wrote in a September press release.
The group also predicted potential job losses could result from a push toward EVs.
Legal Insurrection also reported in October that BMW’s CEO Oliver Zipse asserts that Europe’s 2035 ban on internal combustion engines (ICE) is unrealistic and could increase reliance on Chinese batteries.
Meanwhile, in this country, President-Elect Donald Trump plans to restore the normal market forces to the automotive market. Trump plans to eliminate the $7,500 federal tax credit for EV purchases, which many analysts believe would significantly hinder EV sales and competitiveness against gasoline-powered vehicles.
The credit granted to buyers of EVs helped make the case for buying the climate-friendlier vehicles, and when an earlier version of the tax credit was done away with several years ago, Tesla cut prices on its cars by about half of the credit its buyers were no longer receiving.
Tesla is the sole automaker to be generating a profit on its U.S. sales. Manufacturing EVs is a losing proposition for Big Three vehicle makers like Ford and General Motors, who sell a fraction of EVs compared with Tesla.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“We did not see that coming!” LOL. LMAO, even.
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition
“…a misalignment between CO2 regulations and consumer demand for electrified vehicles.”
Translation: the delusional governmental estimation that carbon dioxide is a pollutant rather than the basis of all photosynthesis, and hence, all life on this planet is “misaligned” with the fact that EVs do not perform at the level of ICE vehicles, hence, few want them. The battery tech and infrastructure is not there, and remote power generation is more polluting than actual combustion in automobiles. Ford was losing more than they made on the Lightning.
But our “betters” in the government insist on driving this down everyone’s throat based on specious research.
Carbon dioxide is NOT a pollutant. The planet benefits from CO2 from, ironically enough, the greenhouse gas effect from this gas, making this planet livable (along with water vapor). It is the basis of ALL food on this planet, as it is required by photosynthetic primary producers (plants). No CO2, no plants, then no life.
Lastly, a byproduct of photosynthesis is oxygen, which is also required for most life (there are anaerobic bacteria) on this planet.
Our “betters” are so ignorant, that they think building acres and acres of solar “farms” will solve the CO2 “problem.” The REAL problem is that solar “farms” do not allow plant growth, preventing the absorption of CO2 and t he aforementioned benefits. They even cut down some of the rare and unique Joshua trees to build a solar “farm,” to save the Joshua trees from climate change, if you can follow that logic.
If the governments and greenies were serious about CO2 pollution (and other types) for the biggest bang for the buck, they would be going after China and India, not the cleanest country on the planet.
Our “betters” are not ignorant – they are evil.
Part of that whole Georgia Guidestones 500 million population thing.
Get out the buggy mate amd start training those horses again
This is a natural consequence of trying to sell your customers a product they don’t want.
Ah yes, the wonders of centralized government planning and control! It worked so well in the Soviet Union!
Germany is now in a “no wind” crisis because 27% of its electrical power comes from windmills and the wind is not blowing. It is too nearsighted to understand that it does not have a reliable system with only wind and some coal plants. Yet they are aiming to be all-electric by 2035! One thing we have learned from obama and Biden is that ideologues cannot lead because they have no common sense or ability to see the future. There will be an alternative to what we have now but the current batteries are not the answer.
Government can force ICE vehicles out of the market but they can’t force people to buy EV’s. That’s a conundrum
Should that happen, the Cubans can teach the Germans how to keep an old car on the road for decades.
That’s okay – you don’t need to drive in or out of your 15-minute city anyway.
Sub-prime 90-day automotive delinquencies have now exceeded 2007-levels and continue to increase with every passing month. I’m afraid a come-to-Jesus moment is quickly approaching for the automotive industry. Trump may be inheriting an economy that is on life-support, particularly for the bottom half of the country.
Command economies simply don’t work as advertised, particularly when driven by Lysenkoist “science”.
The Soviet Union gave us ample demonstration of this in the 20th century, but our neo-marxist parasite class seems determined to re-enact every mistake.
Or perhaps it is deliberate, in the cause of reducing human life and “saving” Gaia.
Leave a Comment