Earlier this summer, there were reports that Ford may trim a number of jobs as the company looks to restructure for the future. A memo sent to employees confirms that the layoffs have now begun.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Ford will lay off approximately 3,000 people. These layoffs will result in the elimination of 2,000 internal salaried positions and an estimated 1,000 agency positions. According to a spokesperson for Ford, the layoffs will be concentrated in the company’s Ford Blue division, which oversees the automaker’s internal-combustion projects, its also the company’s largest division.
“We are eliminating work, as well as reorganizing and simplifying functions throughout the business,” wrote Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley in a jointly written memo to employees. The memo states that Ford will provide “significant help to find new career opportunities.”
Ford plans to cut $3 billion in annual costs by 2026 in order to achieve a pretax profit margin of 10%. Ford’s pretax profit margins were around 7.3% last year.
The automaker announced its Ford Plus plan in March, which divided its business into two halves. Ford Blue will continue to focus on internal-combustion vehicles and lowering development costs, while Ford Model E looks ahead to EVs, software, and connected-car technology. The automaker also has Ford Pro which handles the automaker’s commercial efforts.