Ford "Quietly" Laying Off Thousands From Its China Joint Venture
t a time when global auto sales are grinding to what feels like inevitable prolonged recession, the world is taking many of its industry cues from China. Which is why it is notable that Ford's China JV would be laying off "thousands" of workers according to the NYT.
Thousands of the JV's 20,000 total workers are expected to be laid off as a result of weak auto sales in the world's second largest economy - a sign of continuing weakness for autos (and the overall economy) heading into the second quarter of 2019. Layoffs recently "quietly begun", according to additional reporting from Reuters. Neither Ford nor its China JV, formed in partnership with Changan Automobile Group, had a comment on the reported layoffs Wednesday morning.
Car sales in China continued their relentless descent in January, falling 17.7%, as we recently expected would happen when discussing Europe's tumbling January auto sales. This follows the country's first full year slump (2018) in more than two decades and it puts further pressure on the state of the global automotive market.
The drop marked the eighth monthly retail sales decline in a row and was the biggest one-month drop in seven years. Gu Yatao, a Beijing-based auto analyst with Roland Berger, confirmed to Bloomberg that the "downward pressure is still there. The government isn’t adopting stimulating policies to give the market a shot in the arm."
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https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-27/ford-quietly-laying-thousands-its-china-joint-venture