Ford Motor is slashing thousands of jobs in Europe, as the carmaker embarks on closing a plant and terminating production of some unprofitable models in the continent – as part of a restructuring plan. In July, the company had indicated its intent to spend $11 billion over the next three to five years towards shuffling its global business.
In its announcement on Thursday, Ford mentioned that it will be ending production of the C-Max compact car in Germany, and that it wants to shutter a transmissions plant in France. Ford reported losses of $199 million on its European operations over the first nine months of 2018, compared to a profit of $278 million in the same period of 2017. It has estimated a loss for the region for 2018. However, its sales and profitability in the U.S. have been healthy. in
There have also been murmurs among analysts about a possible partnership between Ford and Europe's auto major Volkswagen on autonomous vehicles and other technology.