‘We are going to make it as expensive as possible for Ford’
Ford has been assembling cars in Saarlouis, Germany, for over 50 years. The Ford Focus is currently still rolling off the production line, but Ford will cut the Focus from its portfolio next year, meaning Ford production in Saarlouis will end that year. In any case, that will cost 3,500 factory employees their jobs. Automotive News reports this.
Ford has agreed with the German union IG Metall to significantly reduce the workforce at the Ford plant in Saarlouis. About 3,500 employees will lose their jobs if Ford permanently stops production of the Focus next year. The Ford Focus is the only model to see the light of day in Saarlouis. According to Automotive News, the IG Metall union has indicated that around 1,000 workplaces will remain after 2025 and that there will be no forced redundancies until at least 2032. Employees could stop working with favorable compensation, according to IG Metall. “We were not able to achieve the optimal result [uit de onderhandelingen, red.] So we took the next best option: making it as expensive as possible for Ford to cut jobs,” said a regional manager at IG Metall.
In October it emerged that BYD or Chery may have sat around the negotiating table with Ford for a possible takeover of the factory, but that ultimately came to nothing. It was recently announced that BYD is not setting up its European factory in Germany, but in Hungary. It is not known which party will take over the Ford factory.
Ford has been producing cars in Saarlouis for over 50 years. Previously these included the Escort, Orion, C-Max, Kuga and Fiesta. In 2024, that will only be the Focus. Ford is discontinuing the Focus and shifting its attention in Europe to fully electric models. The bad news around Ford Saarlouis is good news for the Ford factory in Valencia, Spain. Ford wants to produce its new generation of electric models there.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl