The car manufacturer ford is cutting jobs again in Europe, according to the works council. We have been informed that there will be a further restructuring program in Cologne and at locations in other EU countries, said the head of the Ford Europa works council, Benjamin Gruschka, to the dpa in Cologne. We should become “leaner and more efficient”.
According to him, it is the fourth restructuring program since 2018. At that time, Ford still had almost 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 does not want to announce this until the end of June. The company was initially unavailable for press inquiries. The “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” had previously reported.
Ford is in a difficult phase. Long-established combustion engine models such as the Fiesta small car were phased out, and Ford’s car market share in Europe fell over the years. Parts of the development department moved to the USA.
With an investment of almost two billion euros, the US group continued to rely on its Cologne location, which not only includes the European headquarters but also production. Only recently did the first electric Ford Explorer roll off the assembly line as a series vehicle – it is the first electric vehicle from Ford Europe manufactured for the mass market, and it is a beacon of hope for the car manufacturer. A second model is expected to follow this year. The future production capacity for these two models will be a total of up to 250,000 vehicles per year.
Works councilor Grushka was sharply critical. “Instead of concentrating on the market launch of the two Cologne electric cars, 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 did not appear at a works meeting on Tuesday morning. The employee representatives would therefore have had to deliver the bad news. In addition to Cologne, Ford also has a location in Saarlouis (Saarland) in Germany. Production there is scheduled to stop at the end of 2025 – that was decided a long time ago.