KANSAS CITY, Mo. (NewsNation) — Ford announced Monday that it plans to lay off thousands of workers. This announcement comes a month after Ford refused to comment on the Bloomberg report that speculated the company was planning to cut up to 8,000 jobs in a bid to reduce costs as the company shifts its focus to electric vehicles.

The cuts will impact 2,000 salaried employees and 1,000 agency personnel, according to a Ford spokesperson.

They represent about 6% of the 31,000 full-time salaried workforce in the U.S. and Canada. Ford’s 56,000 union factory workers will not be affected. Some workers based in India are also expected to lose their jobs.

The company said the majority of the cuts will be at the company’s Michigan locations.

“Even while we are making difficult but necessary changes in some areas of our business, we are investing in areas that are important to Ford and our customers including production of our iconic brands and EV vehicles and in our Ford Pro, commercial businesses,” Ford said in a statement.

In a letter to Ford employees, the company said the auto industry is changing with “breathtaking speed.”

“We have an opportunity to lead this exciting new era of connected and electric vehicles; create the most growth and value for Ford and our stakeholders since we scaled the Model T, and continue to make a positive difference in our customer’s lives and on society at large,” Ford’s announcement letter to employees said.

The company said employees will learn specifics about the changes from regional and local managers later this week.

This is in addition to a decision to shut down its F-150 line at Claycomo in February due to a chip shortage.

United Auto Workers Local 249 also said workers at the Claycomo plant were temporarily laid off earlier this month.

The nation is seeing cuts across the entire auto industry. Last week, Dodge announced it is going to be cutting its traditional models in an effort to allocate more resources to electric vehicles. General Motors is doing the same thing.

“And the CEO, Jim Farley, has been very vocal about the need to cut back on costs. This is something he’s been saying for well over a year. Now he wants to pivot and make sure that his workforce is actually capable of transitioning to electric vehicles,” NewsNation business contributor Lydia Moynihan said.

Farley, Ford’s CEO, has said he wants to cut $3 billion in costs by 2026. Moynihan also mentioned that this announcement to cut labor came the day after Ford lost a $1.7 billion lawsuit where a claim alleged one of the company’s vehicles was responsible for two deaths back in 2014.

The company has made it known it will appeal the court’s decision, but for now Ford owes the plaintiffs $1.7 billion.

The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliate WDAF contributed to this report.