Ford Europe Plans To Cut More Jobs In Multiple Countries: Report

June 18, 2024 12:42 pm

Just last week, Ford Europe announced that it will be shedding an additional 1,600 jobs from the Valencia Assembly plant in Spain, which previously trimmed 1,100 positions last year as well. Of that most recent total, around 1,000 could possibly be brought back once the plant’s capacity ramps up to 300,000 units annually in 2027 as expected, while the other 600 are permanent reductions. At this time, only the Kuga is produced at Valencia, though an all-new hybrid model is expected to join it soon. Now, Ford Europe will reportedly cut even more jobs across that region, however.

This information comes to us from the head of the works council at the Ford Cologne Electric Vehicle Center in Germany, Benjamin Gruschka, who told Reuters that the automaker is planning additional job cuts in that country, as well as across Spain and the UK. However, it’s currently unclear how many jobs Ford plans to trim in Europe in this latest round of cuts, though a final decision on the matter is expected to be made before the end of June. Last year, FoMoCo announced that it was planning to cut 3,800 jobs in Europe as it shifts to EVs in that market.

However, Ford just revealed that it no longer plans to field a full-EV passenger vehicle lineup in Europe by 2030 as previously planned, and it will instead focus on offering a mix of pure ICE, hybrid, and EV models in that region for the foreseeable future amid waning demand. Regardless, Ford Focus production is still slated to end at the Saarlouis Assembly plant in Germany in 2025, even amid this pivot.

At the same time, mass production of the Ford Explorer EV just began at the Cologne Electric Vehicle Center last week, and it will soon be joined by a second model underpinned by Volkswagen’s MEB platform. Beyond those two crossovers, Ford Europe’s EV future is a bit murky at the moment, though it could utilize a low-cost platform for upcoming models, as will be the case in the U.S.

We’ll have more on these job cuts in Ford Europe soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for around-the-clock Ford news coverage.

By Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.