Ford has just completed a cost-cutting program, and now, according to the works council, the next one is to follow. This is bad news for the Cologne location.
According to the works council, the car manufacturer Ford is once again making cuts in Europe. The company has been informed that there will be another restructuring program in Cologne and at locations in other EU countries, said the head of the works council of Ford Europe, Benjamin Gruschka, to the dpa in Cologne. The plan is to become “leaner and more efficient.”
According to him, this is already the fourth restructuring program since 2018. At that time, Ford had just under 20,000 employees in Cologne. Now there are only around 13,000. The exact extent of the planned job cuts for Germany is still unclear; according to the works council, management will not announce this until the end of June. The company was initially unavailable for press inquiries. The “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” had previously reported.
Ford is going through a difficult phase. Long-standing combustion engine models such as the small car Fiesta have been phased out, and Ford’s share of the passenger car market in Europe has fallen over the years. Parts of the development department have moved to the USA. With an investment of almost two billion euros, the US company has continued to rely on its Cologne location, which includes the European headquarters as well as production.
Electric car as a beacon of hope
The first electric Ford Explorer recently rolled off the production line as a series vehicle – it is Ford Europe’s first electric vehicle produced for the mass market, and it is a beacon of hope for the car manufacturer. A second model is due to follow this year. The production capacity for these two models will be up to 250,000 vehicles per year in total.
Works council member Gruschka was sharply critical. “Instead of concentrating on the market launch of the two Cologne electric cars, the European top management is causing a lot of uncertainty with its announcement of a new wave of restructuring,” said Gruschka. They have just completed one restructuring plan and the next one is already following.
According to the works council, management stayed away from a company meeting on Tuesday morning, leaving it to the employee representatives to deliver the bad news. In addition to Cologne, Ford also has a site in Saarlouis (Saarland) in Germany. Production there is to be stopped at the end of 2025 – this was decided some time ago.
Source: Stern
