Ford Motor to cut 10 per cent of salaried workforce: report

Ford Motor plans to cut its salaried workforce in North America and Asia by about 10 per cent of its 200,000-person global workforce to boost profits and its falling stock price, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters yesterday.

According to a person briefed about the plan, Ford plans to offer generous early retirement incentives to cut its salaried headcount by 1 October. The company does not however, intend to cut its hourly workforce or its production.

According to commentators, the move could put the US automaker on a collision course with president Donald Trump, who had made it a top priority to increase employment in the auto sector. Ford employs around 30,000 salaried workers in the US.

The cuts form part of a plan announced earlier to slash costs by $3 billion, the person said, as new US auto sales showed signs of decline following seven years of consecutive growth after the end of the global economic meltdown.

Declining to comment on any job cuts, Ford said it remained focused on its core strategies to "drive profitable growth".

Meanwhile, Ford said in a statement, that it had not yet announced any job cuts but did not deny the essence of the report.

''We remain focused on the three strategic priorities that will create value and drive profitable growth, which include fortifying the profit pillars in our core business, transforming traditionally underperforming areas of our core business and investing aggressively, but prudently, in emerging opportunities. Reducing costs and becoming as lean and efficient as possible also remain part of that work. We have not announced any new people efficiency actions, nor do we comment on speculation.''