Ford axes 1400 jobs at its Dagenham and Southampton, England, plants

from the BBC website:

Carmaker Ford has announced plans to close two UK plants with the loss of 1,400 jobs. Its Southampton Transit van factory and the stamping plant at Dagenham, Essex, will shut, with union sources saying the job losses could reach 2,000. Ford said it planned to close the plants next year.

The news came a day after Ford said it had started consultations on closing its factory at Genk in Belgium with the loss of 4,300 jobs to cut costs.

The firm told the unions it was looking to close the Genk factory, which makes the Mondeo and S-Max models, in 2014.

Ford said it hoped to achieve the job losses through voluntary redundancies and redeployments. "We will address the crisis in Europe with a laser focus on new products, a stronger brand and increased cost efficiency," said Ford boss Alan Mulally.

"We recognise the impact our actions will have on many employees and their families in Europe, and we will work together with all stakeholders during this necessary transformation of our business."

The carmaker also announced it would be investing in a new diesel engine range at Dagenham. Ford said the decision to close the plants was taken "against a backdrop of the severe and persistent economic crisis in Europe", which had seen demand for cars in Western Europe drop by 20% since 2007 and car sales in the region hit a 20-year low. It predicted a loss for Ford Europe of more than $1.5 billion (£930 million) in 2012