Washington, February 15 Ford admitted on Wednesday that it needed to cut between $7,000 million and $8,000 million in costs to be as profitable as its main competitors the day after announcing that it would cut its workforce by 11% in Europe.
Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler released the figure at the Wolfe Research Global Auto Conference in New York today, which was also attended by Jim Farley, the automaker’s chief executive.
Lawler noted that this year Ford will be able to cut costs by about $2.5 billion.
On February 2, Farley expressed his frustration with the poor performance of the company, which lost $2.152 million in 2022.
“Last year we should have done a lot better. We left about $2 billion in earnings under our control and we’re going to fix that with better execution and better performance,” Farley said at the time.
Lawler explained today that about half of Ford’s overspending compared to its competitors, between $3 billion and $4 billion, is the result of higher material costs.
Ford also has higher warranty costs. Last year Ford recalled eight million vehicles, more than any other brand.
Farley said today that Ford needed to change its “efficiency” in engineering, supply chain and manufacturing.
Ford’s chief executive added that the company’s future vehicles will require half the labor and half the bolts. EFE
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