Ford will stop making vans in Britain next year, cutting 1,400 jobs on top of 4,300 to be axed in Belgium as part of a plan by the US carmaker to stem European losses expected to exceed $1.5 billion this year.

It is the fourth vehicle plant closure in recession-hit Europe announced this year and comes just a day after Ford itself said it would shut its 48-year-old Genk plant in Belgium by 2014, as part of a wide-ranging restructuring programme.

The company said the moves would reduce installed vehicle assembly capacity by 18 per cent, with related gross annual savings of $450-500 million. Thirteen per cent of its European workforce would be affected by the restructuring.

Analysts said the speed of the announcements showed Ford was tackling the problem of over-capacity in Europe head-on, while other companies appeared to dither.

"With GM Europe you always wonder what's going on - it looks like they are still bogged down in deciding what to do," London-based UBS analyst Philippe Houchois said.

General Motors has said it would shut a factory in Belgium in 2016 and will update its restructuring plan before the end of the month.

Ford said despite the loss in Europe, total company pre-tax profit, excluding special items, was better in the third quarter than in the second and that over the long term, it was aiming for an operating margin of 6-8pc in Europe.

A union leader said earlier the company was also closing a stamping plant which makes parts for the Transit van.-Reuters