Full scale production of the Ford Explorer EV at the Cologne Electric Vehicle Center in Germany just got underway in early June, followed by its MEB platform mate, the Capri, back in October. There was a time, not too terribly long ago, that The Blue Oval planned to transition its entire passenger vehicle lineup in Europe to all-electric vehicles by 2030 – or sooner – and these two new models were fully expected to play a big role in making that happen. However, with global demand for EVs proving to be weaker than expected lately, production of the Ford Explorer and Capri EVs is now being scaled back.
According to Automotive News, Ford has notified workers at the Cologne plant that it is slowing production of the Explorer and Capri EVs as a result of weak demand for all-electric vehicles across Europe, and as a result, those employees will work one week and then take one week off until the upcoming Christmas vacation. The automaker also plans to reduce the number of shifts at the plant at the beginning of next year, too. “The significantly lower than expected demand for electric vehicles, especially in Germany, requires a temporary adjustment of production volumes,” a Ford spokesperson said. “We are producing more cars than we can sell.”
Ford stopped producing the Fiesta at the Cologne plant this past summer, replacing it with the Ford Explorer EV and Capri on those assembly lines following a $2 billion dollar investment in that facility. With consumers not quite gravitating toward those or all-electric vehicles in general, FoMoCo ditched its admittedly “ambitious” plan to transition fully to EV passenger vehicles by the end of the decade this past May.
Moving forward, Ford plans to continue to offer ICE and hybrid-powered vehicles in Europe as long as it possibly can, though that region – along with other places like the UK – are also aiming to pass zero-emissions mandates that would force automakers to shift toward electrification. However, Ford and other parties are arguing that without robust incentives, they’re unlikely to meet those goals given current demand.
Comments
Car production is being sacrificed on the altar of Net Zero fanatics . There will be tens of thousands of people without jobs over the next ten years. Time to put the brakes on this nonsense.
My ev explorer is great if people drove one they whold buy