Mubasher: Ford on Thursday said it was planning to lay-off thousands of workers, especially in Europe as a part of its restructure strategy, which aims at reducing labour costs.

The Michigan-based vehicles maker is set to suspend manufacturing of the automatic transmissions and multivan sector in Bordeaux, France in August, it said in a statement.

It further revealed that it would also combine its headquarters in the UK with Ford Credit to a location in Dunton, Essex.

Ford also noted that it would review its business operations in Russia.

"We are taking decisive action to transform the Ford business in Europe," Steven Armstrong, Ford Group vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said in a statement.

Ford incurred EUR 245 million losses, before interest and taxes, by the end of third quarter 2018.

"Ford aims to achieve the labor cost reductions as far as possible through voluntary employee separations in Europe," the carmaker added in its Thursday statement.

It is worth noting that Ford Europe currently has around 53,000 employees in the continent.