Ford cuts more jobs

This latest announcment will take total job losses to 1400 by 2010.

The job losses would cover all the company’s operations in Victoria state and would be equally spread between its Geelong (engines) and Broadmeadows (car assembly) plants.

In August, Ford announced 350 jobs were to go from the factories in mid-November, while 600 jobs were to be cut by 2010 with the closure of the Geelong engine plant when the long-serving Australian-made in-line six cylinder engines used in the Falcon and Territory lines are replaced by V6s imported from the US.

Ford makes only the Falcon and the Territory SUV spin-off locally, importing the rest of its range from countries such as Thailand, South Africa and Germany, though it plans to start Focus production in 2011. Over the years, the automaker has assembled vehicles from the UK, the US, Canada and Japan as well as its domestically developed models.

Over the Christmas holiday period Ford will upgrade the Broadmeadows plant, including new robots in the paint shop.

Ford is the third-largest selling car brand in Australia.