Faurecia says it is accelerating its global programme of restructuring as it looks to address falling European demand with a series of job cuts.
At an Investor Day in London yesterday (12 November), Faurecia CEO, Yann Delabriere, told just-auto the supplier would cut 1,500 jobs in Europe by the end of 2012, with a similar number also believed to be going next year.
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“We have to adjust our head count,” Delabriere told just-auto. “There is a need to adjust the capacity with little prospect the [European] market could recover soon, there is a need for this structural adjustment.
“In France…there is a problem of [the] business environment with labour costs which today [are] much higher from where they were five years ago. The recession in Europe is there – there is a weak manufacturing economic environment – everybody knows that short term it will remain weak. Everybody knows in the short term, it will be painful adjustment.”
Faurecia added it only had “little business” with the Mondeo at Ford’s Genk plant in Belgium, which the US automaker plans to close with the loss of 4,300 jobs, but Delabriere says the macro-economic environment is leading many to address the issue of over-capacity.
“We have structural problems in the automotive industry and need to adjust,” he said.
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By GlobalDataFaurecia noted restructuring costs in Western Europe will total EUR190m (US$241m) by the end of 2013, while it is equally seeking to implement fixed costs reductions of EUR50m in 2013 and EUR100m in 2014.
The component maker is also maintaining its target of achieving EUR22bn (US$28bn) sales by 2016 from EUR16bn last year.
