Ford plans to fire hundreds of salaried staff, largely engineers, in the United States this week in order to increase profit and reduce expenses as part of a $50 billion move to electric vehicles.
It is unclear if these layoffs would lead to a general decrease in company’s staff in the U.S. and Canada, as the car giant has recently said that it is currently hiring in some other locations.
The news comes a week after the corporation reportedly underwent another wave of layoffs, which mainly affected employees in Ford’s software and electric vehicle (EV) divisions, as well as those who work in the company’s gas-engine division.
Ford had also conducted a previous round of layoffs in August of last year, terminating around 3,000 contract and white-collar workers. The business revealed in January that it will begin to eliminate 3,800 positions in its European operations.
According to company officials, the business will lose $3 billion this year due to the sales of electric vehicles, but it still anticipates achieving its annual profit goals of $9 to $11 billion.