Saturday, April 30, 2022

Ford cutting hundreds of engineering jobs after $3.1 billion loss in Q1


The job reductions were reported on the same day that Ford said it earned $34.5 billion in revenues in the first quarter, but posted a net loss of $3.1 billion
File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

April 28 (UPI) -- Ford is cutting out hundreds of engineering jobs in the United States in order to seek out new talent, the automaker said on the same day that it reported a first-quarter loss of more than $3 billion.

The company announced the cuts on Wednesday and said they would come in its engineering division, although it didn't specify whether those losses would occur at its Detroit-area facilities.

The total number of job cuts will be 580, Ford said. Most will involve salaried employees and the rest are agency positions.

Ford employs close to 90,000 workers in the United States and has 182,000 employees worldwide. Ford CEO Jim Farley has said previously that the company needs "totally different talent."

The job cuts were reported on the same day that Ford issued first-quarter earnings, which noted a $3.1 billion net loss for the January-March period. The loss comes primarily from devaluation of its investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian, the company said.

In its earnings report, the automaker said it made $34.5 billion in revenues and sold 966,000 vehicles in the first quarter, a decline of almost 10% over the first quarter of 2021.

Nonetheless, Ford said that it remains on target to achieve production goals for the rest of 2022.

The job cuts came one day after Ford launched its Ford F-150 Lightning, the automaker's first fully electric F-150. It began rolling off assembly lines nearly two months after the company announced plans to separate its traditional and electric vehicle operations. Ford said it's so far made about 2,000 of the trucks and will begin deliveries soon.

President Joe Biden previewed the F-150 Lightning during a tour of Ford's Dearborn, Mich., plant a year ago -- famously taking the pickup for a quick spin and concluding, "This sucker's quick."

The automaker said that demand for the electric F-150 is high with 200,000 preorders.

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