Ford F-250 (2011). Photo: Wikipedia
Those familiar with the situation at Ford plants predict that soon the legendary American automaker will begin to lay off workers whose wages can no longer be paid due to massive investments in the production of electric vehicles.
As it turns out today, the transition from the production of internal combustion engine cars to that of electric cars has proven so costly that Ford is no longer able to pay the salaries of its highly trained and long-serving staff who were involved in the development of Ford models for decades.
Ford had already announced earlier this year its intention to lay off 3,000 workers in its North American factories, but as it turns out today, the layoffs are not limited to what was announced at the time, as the costs incurred by the company in the transition to production of electric cars turned out to be higher than initially feared.
This is not an industrial policy choice that Ford makes voluntarily. That is to say, it requires Biden According to the US administration, all US automakers would halve the cumulative amount of emissions from cars they produce between 2026 and 2032. The federal government’s order leaves Ford and other US automakers no choice but to commit in the forced electrification of their production at the cost of drastic layoffs.
Steven Millroy is an automotive lawyer with expertise in energy and environmental issues. Millroy told the publication National review, that the reason Ford has started laying off workers en masse is because the company is losing huge amounts of money on every electric car it sells. In 2022, Ford lost $34,000 on every electric car that left the showroom. As a result, mass layoffs are no surprise.
“Industrial policy based on the dictates of central government is bound to fail… especially when it is a product that the consumer does not want and there is no real need to produce it on command,” Milroy said.
In short, the Biden administration has placed on the shoulders of the US auto industry a responsibility that is economically impossible to address without extraordinary cuts to the workforce, especially considering the breakneck pace of the transition. Taking all this into account, one cannot forget the extremely high price of electric cars, not only from an economic point of view, but also from an ecological one.
The ecological and public health impact of extracting rare earth metals used as inputs for electric car production is known to be extreme, but is mostly borne by developing countries, which must accept the destruction of their natural environment and public resources. health to achieve the green utopia of rich countries.
Ford expects $3 billion loss in 2023 due to shift to electric car production. However, the losses don’t seem to be ending anytime soon, as the chairman of Ford’s board of directors says Jim Farley According to In other words, the sale of electric cars below production costs and the related losses will continue for years to come.
The cost of going green in the U.S. auto industry isn’t borne solely by Ford. In April this year, the largest automobile manufacturer in the United States announced General Motorswhich also fires 5,000 workers, and similar trials are also underway Chrysleris.
Edited by Adrian Bachmann
2023-12-08 05:30:53
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