San Francisco, Jul 21 (IANS): With an aim to fund its plans to build electric vehicles (EVs), popular automaker Ford is likely planning to cut up to 8,000 jobs over the coming weeks, media reports said.

According to Bloomberg, the layoffs would occur at its Ford Blue unit, recently created to develop vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE), and would affect other salaried positions in the company.

The bulk of cuts are expected to occur in the US, the report said.

In March, CEO Jim Farley restructured the company, dividing it into the Ford Blue and Model E divisions, with the latter dedicated to electric cars and pickups like the Mach E and F150 Lightning.

As part of that, he announced plans to cut $3 billion in costs by 2026, intending to transform Ford Blue into "the profit and cash engine" for the entire company.

"As part of this, we have laid out clear targets to lower our cost structure to ensure we are lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry," Ford's CCO Mark Truby was quoted as saying by Bloomberg in a statement.

Ford currently employs around 31,000 salaried US workers, as per the report.

In March, the automaker announced plans to boost electric vehicle spending to $50 billion and plan to build two million EVs by 2026. The company sold just 27,140 EVs stateside last year, but got a significant 76.6 percent boost last month as shipping commenced for the F-150 Lightning.