The Ford motor company is to cut 14,000 jobs in the US in a bid to cut costs by about $5bn (£2.65bn) by the end of 2008.
The company posted a $123m (£66.5m) loss in the second quarter 2006 and will close 16 factories by 2008, instead of shutting 12 by 2012 as it announced at the start of the year.
Ford employs a total of 300,000 people across the globe.
Last week, the firm replaced Bill Ford, the great-grandson of the firm’s founder, with a new chief executive, Alan Mulally.
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Mulally was previously head of Boeing’s commercial aircraft division, and experts say he is highly-skilled at cutting costs.
Ford’s ill-fortune has been partly put down to a change in buying habits among consumers, who now prefer energy efficient cars rather than ‘gas guzzlers’.
