Ford’s Spanish unit said on Friday it would cut around 1,100 jobs at its Valencia plant in eastern Spain.

ABC News noted the cuts were on top of 2,300 layoffs largely in Germany and the UK the automaker announced last month as part of a “leaner, more competitive cost structure in Europe.”

Ford Spain told ABC News in a statement it notified unions on Friday of what it described as “a profound restructuring of its operations”.

Ford has recently championed the Valencia plant as its preferred site to assemble “next-generation” electric vehicles on the continent, the report noted.

Jose Luis Parra Navarro, a UGT union spokesman, told ABC News the workforce would become “surplus” when the plant switched to making electric cars because the work “requires less labour”.

The plant currently employs 5,400.

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The job cuts were “mainly due to the already announced discontinuing production of the S-Max and Galaxy models in April 2023”, Ford Spain told ABC News by email.

Ford strategy is to offer an all electric line in Europe by 2035 and production of its first European built EV was expected to start later this year.