Chancellor visits car manufacturer Ford: funding injection for electric cars? Scholz sees Brussels’ turn

In the weakening business with electric cars from Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is relying on impulses from the EU. We need a functioning Europe-wide sales promotion, said Scholz during a visit to the car manufacturer Ford in Cologne. That would be the best way – “because it would then be accompanied, for example, by an expansion of the charging infrastructure everywhere in Europe.”

He cited allowing Europe to stimulate the production of electric cars nationally as the second best option. He didn’t get any more specific. At the end of 2023, a federal electric car purchase bonus – the “environmental bonus” – expired, after which demand for electric vehicles plummeted.

Around 8,000 employees at a works meeting

According to management plans, Ford is facing massive job cuts; around one in four of the current 12,000 jobs in Cologne will be eliminated within three years. The group produces two electric car models in the cathedral city that were launched this year. Sales are slow.

Around 8,000 employees came to a works meeting on the factory premises, many of them worried about their professional future. The mood was heated. “Olaf, without an election we wouldn’t matter to you,” shouted some employees, referring to the upcoming federal election, in which the SPD is also campaigning for the votes of industrial workers. “No more babbling” and “Ready to strike” were written on posters. The workforce’s frustration was directed against management, but also against politics.

The head of the works council at Ford Germany, Benjamin Gruschka, called for the introduction of an electric car purchase bonus to stimulate weakening demand. “We have to do something, we have to tackle the transformation and we need an important, strong political framework,” said Gruschka. The managing director of Ford-Werke GmbH, Marcus Wassenberg, who has only been in office since the summer, said that the necessary effort would only work if everyone made their contribution – politicians, companies and the social partners, i.e. the unions.

Billion-dollar electrical investment

Ford had relied on vehicles with combustion engines for a long time and only invested in electromobility relatively late – but then with financial determination; The Cologne factory was rebuilt for almost two billion euros and set up for electric power. The timing for the start of sales this year was bad as the market was in a weak phase at the time. Ford is not alone; other traditional car companies are also having problems selling their electric vehicles.

Only around 70 kilometers away, another traditional industrial group, Thyssenkrupp Steel, also wants to cut thousands of jobs. Despite this bad news, Scholz said: “Germany is an industrial location and will remain so – we will do everything we can to make this happen because we are at the forefront of technology and because we produce globally competitive products and goods.” Now we have to ensure “that the framework conditions are right and that it works,” said the Social Democrat.

SPD parliamentary group leader also for EU funding

The Cologne Bundestag member and SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich was also present at the works meeting. When asked why Scholz remained so vague on the subject of the purchase bonus, Mützenich said with regard to the environmental bonus, which expired at the end of 2023: “I think he is afraid that if we go back to the old model, that too many other automobile companies will grab this bonus. ” Mützenich also advocated a European funding route. There are currently no majorities in the Bundestag for purely national electric car funding.

The economic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Reinhard Houben, expressed caution. “Ford relied entirely on electric and relied 100 percent on politics – that’s a risk in a free market economy.” The fact that the electric car market is only taking off with a delay is a decision made by consumers. “Management should have anticipated that the market could develop differently than expected – and now there are knee-jerk calls for government aid to iron out management’s mistakes.” If these were met, it would be at the expense of the taxpayer.

The Cologne FDP member of the Bundestag questioned whether Ford management’s model policy was correct. “With the Ford Fiesta, the company sold a very successful small car for decades – and now the company has introduced significantly more expensive cars and is surprised that they are not immediately successful.”

The Ford Explorer costs at least 42,000 euros and the Ford Capri – that’s the name of the two Cologne electric models from Ford – 44,000 euros. “This has little to do with Ford’s core brand – affordable, solid cars,” said Houben. “It shouldn’t be surprising that current customers aren’t following along with such increased price levels.”