Ford Motor Company has announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs at its Cologne plant in Germany, with the reductions set to begin in early 2026.
The US-based carmaker said it will also switch its current two-shift operation to one shift, lowering its output.
The staff cuts are the result of weak demand for electric vehicles, Ford said yesterday.
Ford had already enacted austerity measures and cuts, but has been forced to accelerate this process.
Despite a €2 billion investment to modernise its Cologne plant and a late switch to e-mobility, Ford’s new electric models — the Explorer and the Capri 4×4 coupé — cost at least €40,000 and have underperformed in sales.
The recently launched Puma EV, meanwhile, struggles with its high price.
Adding to the pressure, Ford’s best-selling models, the Focus and Kuga, are ageing and the Focus will be discontinued later this year with no direct replacement.
Demand for electric cars was already low in Germany and received an extra blow after the government cancelled subsidies.
According to Ford, demand for electric cars in Europe is significantly below original industry forecasts.
It was expected that 35 per cent of all cars sold on the market would be electric by 2023 but today that figure is only 18 per cent.
“We are aware of the impact on our employees and are committed to providing the best possible support to those affected,” the company said.
“In this context, we will offer voluntary severance packages.”
The conditions for voluntary retirement will be taken over from the first agreement hashed out with the unions after previous cuts were announced.
In November 2024, Ford announced it would cut 14 per cent of its European workforce, blaming significant losses in recent years compounded by weak demand for electric vehicles, a lack of government support for the shift to EVs and rising competition.
This meant 2,900 job cuts in Cologne, which led to protests and the first strike in the history of the Cologne Ford plants. The company has been present in Cologne since 1930.
Only in early September of this year workers and the company reached an agreement on staff reductions of almost one in four jobs.
Yesterday, Ford announced the cut of an extra 1,000 jobs, starting from January.
A decade ago, Ford still had around 20,000 employees but in just over two years, this will have been reduced to 7,600.
Stefan Bratzel from the Centre of Automotive Management told German media outlet T-online: “Unfortunately, that was foreseeable: Ford sells cars that are far too expensive and doesn’t get them sold, the company produces on stockpile.”
He stressed that the company is associated with cheap cars but that the new electric vehicles are too expensive.
“The Americans have long had the wrong view of the European market and are missing the mark in terms of product technology – Ford’s development in Cologne is a tragedy.”
Bratzel also questioned the decision to opt for one-shift in a modern plant. “It seems almost impossible to work profitably,” he said.
“At Ford, it’s all about containing losses. Otherwise the dismantling will continue.”
The European car market was said to be in great peril because of “green” overregulation from Brussels, killing the industry. https://t.co/lBgP9QtKyW
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 7, 2025
