Ford 'to cut thousands of jobs'

Jac Nasser: Shake-up would come shortly after his departure

Car giant Ford is considering a shake-up of North American operations which could see thousands of jobs go, a report has said.

Directors at the carmaker are next month to be briefed on plans likely to spell the mothballing of plants, and loss of thousands of jobs, according to the Financial Times.

The revamp, which comes weeks after the removal of former chief executive Jac Nasser, is aimed at helping the firm trim losses which reached $1.53bn in North America in the first nine months of the year.

The report also came hours after the European unit of rival General Motors revealed it was axing a further 10% of staff after earlier cost-cutting measures failed to reach targets.

European revamp

Ford's US shake-up follows a restructuring at European operations which reduced costs by $900m in the last two years.

In Europe, the revamp has included cutting Ford's plant portfolio from 11 to 6.

More than 2,000 jobs are being shed from the Dagenham plant in East London as vehicle production is wound down.

Earlier on Wednesday, David Thursfield, head of the company's European operations, said they were on track to break even this year, and post profits in future.

Targets missed

General Motors, which owns the popular Vauxhall and Opel brands, has declined to reveal where new job cuts would be made.

But an Opel executive revealed in October that it was getting "increasingly difficult" for the unit to hit targets for cutting losses.

Opel in August struck a deal with unions in an effort to avoid the need to axe jobs and close plants.

More than 2,000 jobs have gone from Vauxhall operations in the last year, with the closure of a factory in Luton.