Ford’s Cologne factory in Germany is famous for building the Capri, the Fiesta and a number of other important models in Europe, but it’s facing its toughest battle yet - a struggling electric vehicle market.
The factory last year transitioned to becoming Ford’s production hub for the Explorer and Capri electric SUVs, both of which are redesigned versions of the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5, respectively.
The two EVs have fallen victim to bad timing, as the rise of more affordable alternatives from China and an overall weakening of the battery-powered vehicle market has led to poor sales, impacting production which has scaled back to match the lack of demand.
In response to this, Ford has agreed with the union representing its workers to introduce a job protection scheme at the factory, while voluntary redundancies will be enacted across the next half decade, according to Reuters.
It follows strikes at the plant from its workforce, who had protested against previous job cuts, also linked to the slow sales of the Explorer and Capri.
The announcement comes just two months after the Cologne site started mass assembly of vehicle drive battery packs, destined for the aforementioned EVs. On top of this, Ford has earmarked US$2 billion (A$3 billion) towards turning the factory into an EV hub.
Once a powerhouse for Ford of Europe, the latest news about Cologne is a blow to the brand’s German operations, which is also facing the closure of its Saarlouis factory at the end of the year.
Throughout its 55 years of operation, Saarlouis has produced the Escort, Fiesta (briefly), the Kuga and most famously the Focus, becoming the home factory for the latter.
However, the Focus is set to be killed off at the end of the year, taking with it the factory.
Hot hatch killed off as end of production looms
