Ford Mondeo could face the chop as car maker ‘considers cuts at Bridgend and Dagenham plants’
Car-making colossus have engine plants in Bridgend, south Wales, and Dagenham, east London, and employs 12,000 staff across the UK working in factories, research and development
FORD has drawn up plans to axe thousands of jobs which could kill off some of its most famous models including the Mondeo, according to reports.
The car giant could shed up to 24,000 workers 12 per cent of its global workforce in "deep and fundamental" £9bn restructuring plans reportedly being cooked up at its base in Dearborn, Michigan.
The majority of the cuts are believed to be in Europe.
Ford have engine plants in Bridgend, south Wales, and Dagenham, east London.
Across the UK it employs 12,000 staff in factories, research and development, administration and dealerships, reports
Many of the job losses are expected to be made in Germany and Spain, where Fiesta, Mondeo, Focus and Galaxy are made.
Sources said Ford was likely to axe the Mondeo, Galaxy and S-Max people and instead make more sport utility vehicles.
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Ford Europe president Steven Armstrong said: "The majority of our volume, revenue and capital deployment is in low-performing cars and MAVs [multi-activity vehicles].
"We are focused on aggressively attacking costs, implementing facility and product programme efficiencies to lower product and material cost, as well as capital intensity in Europe."
The Mondeo was launched in 1993 and became popular with the 30 something middle income homeowner.
In the General Election year of 1997, Labour leader Tony Blair coined the term “Mondeo Man” after spotting a motorist polishing his Mondeo whom the shrewd politician identified as the kind of person his party needed to win over from the Tories.
At its peak, the model sold 130,000 in Britain in the first full year of production but only 55,800 were sold across Europe last year.