FORD’S no good, very bad year continues with news of layoffs which it attributes to a slump in sales for electric vehicles.
Over 1,000 jobs will be slashed as the company looks to reorganize its approach to EV manufacturing abroad.
The brand attributes this move in its historic German factory to “demand for electric cars remain[ing] well below industry forecasts,” per a statement from Ford.
Statistics from July indicated that EVs make up a scant 5.6% of the greater European market.
“Ford will therefore switch production at the Cologne plant to single-shift operation from January 2026,” which it elaborated is resulting in the job losses.
Ford confirmed that those employees being laid off will be offered voluntary redundancy packages.
These January 2026 reductions will be in addition to the 4,000 jobs which the company is already intending to eliminate across Europe by the end of 2027.
Plants in Germany and Britain are among those to be affected by this 2027 reduction effort.
The Cologne plant is responsible for the construction of the brand’s electric Explorer SUV and Capri crossover vehicles.
In 2023, Ford chose to cease production of its Fiesta supermini and Focus hot hatch at the plant in order to focus on the above EVs.
This decision was made in conjunction with the brand’s pursuit of a fully-electric passenger vehicle fleet by 2030, expanding to their entire catalog by 2035.
Ford has since pulled back from this initial plan and dedicated itself to offering both various types of EVs and traditional internal combustion engine options.
Ford also chose to invest $2 billion into the Cologne plant after switching its focus to EVs, an investment which the brand will obviously not see a return on given this latest news.
In addition to the Cologne layoffs, the manufacturer’s only other German plant in Saarlouis is in the middle of a long closing down process which is set to end by 2032.
Only 1,000 of the Saarlouis plant's at one time 7,000 employees will be employed after this year, with 1,050 workers having applied for these remaining jobs as of July 2024, per WSWS.
Come 2032, the plant will be replaced by a production facility for pharmaceutical company Vetter, with construction on this new facility beginning in 2026.
FORD has issued a historic number of recalls so far this year.
Here's a look at some of the most significant safety announcements that affected millions of the brand's vehicles.
Ford has already dealt with over 100 recalls issued on the manufacturer’s various vehicles.
Some are minor issues which don’t affect safe operation of the vehicles, such as a rearview camera recall on nearly 1.5 million vehicles for faulty circuit boards which were abnormally susceptible to corrosion.
Others significantly impacted safe vehicle operations, as was the case for over 350,000 F-series pickup truck models with faulty instrument clusters that wouldn’t display anything on startup.
Another 100,000 Ford Ranger pickup trucks were recalled for faulty side curtain airbags that fell short of modern safety standards.
Yet despite these myriad issues with the brand’s manufacturing standards, the company still ranked first in customer loyalty during the first half of the year, per S&P Global Mobility.
The company has also received praise from its diehard fans for the leaked decision to revive the Ranchero platform as an EV.
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