Ford Motor Company is to halve the annual capital expenditure on its European operations to $800m as part of a continuing restructuring.

According to the FT today, the news was broken by David Thursfield, chairman of Ford of Europe, at a meeting of analysts in New York. He is reported as saying the company would 'significantly reduce investment costs' on new models by sharing more components between vehicles, using fewer plants and cutting surplus capacity.

The cut in spending from £1.6 billion is due to be in effect from 2004. (November 14, 2001)