Again bad news from Germany’s largest industrial industry: For the first time since it was founded 95 years ago, the Cologne Ford works have a union-organized industrial action. IG Metall wants to enforce a better social cushion of a planned workplace reduction. In Germany, Ford wants to cut another 2900 of around 11,500 jobs until the end of 2027. But more: In Cologne, where Ford maintains two locations, there are fears that the American owner could drop the German Ford works that have been crumbling for years and will soon be sent to bankrupt U.S. state of Michigan of the German subsidiary of a 4.4 billion euro capital injection for debt reduction. At the same time, the group mother withdrew the previous insolvency protection guarantee for the Ford works. The division has been writing losses for many years. Köln without Ford? This is no longer to be ruled out, and yet it is difficult for many in the Rhineland. The large car factory in the Niehl district has become an integral part of the city after almost a century – almost like carnival and cathedral, born in Cologne. In many families, generations have earned their living in the Ford works. What are the reasons for the misery? As almost always, when companies are in need, there are also two categories of causes at Ford: on the one hand, there are industry -specific and overall economic reasons for the imbalance with which other manufacturers also have to deal with. On the other hand, however, homemade problems that the company is responsible for play a role-and they are significantly more important at Ford at Ford. Technology for electric cars must be delivered to the automatic industry, the auto industry is not doing well, the demand has been weakening for years. The car factories groan under overcapacity. A total of 10.6 million new cars were approved in the EU in 2024, 2.4 million fewer than in 2019. Also at Audi, Mercedes, Porsche and VW, many thousands of jobs will be deleted, as well as large suppliers such as Bosch, Conti, Schaeffler and ZF. Many medium -sized car participants die softly, but in the case of Ford there are serious homemade mistakes. The company is responsible for its own descent. For a long time, the US manufacturer in Europe has lacked new models. In Cologne, Ford now only builds two low-heel electric cars. The Americans have to buy essential technical components from the competitor VW because they overslept the change to electromobility. The ancestor series of legendary Ford models is long. Family cars such as Taunus and Granada and later Sierra and Mondeo, the Capri as an affordable sports car, the Fiesta as a cheap small car – Ford had a lot to offer. In the middle of the past decade, the focus was the best -selling car in the world. Coum New modelshaber Ford was increasingly drying out the pipeline new models for the European market. Where the US group wanted to control its European business has become more and more unclear. In addition to shrinking and shortening, the Americans no longer seem to have fallen too much for the Americans. Traditional model series has been running out in rows for years: KA, Mondeo, Fiesta, Focus, B-Max, C-Max, Galaxy-all away. More on the topic between Ford in Europe is increasingly missing the critical mass in order to be able to keep up in competition. Other middle price range brands, such as Opel and Škoda, are part of large European car companies, which brings them considerable cost advantages. The Cologne Ford works, on the other hand, are an appendix of a largely perplexed American mother. So it won’t work anymore.
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