Saarlouis It is a German-Spanish competition: Only one of the two Ford plants in Saarlouis and in Valencia will probably survive. In early summer, the European subsidiary of the US group wants to decide which of the two factories will continue to produce cars in the future. Last week, both locations had to submit their application documents to the European Ford headquarters in Cologne.
IG Metall is fighting back: The union wants to save Saarlouis in any case, but also sees opportunities for the preservation of the factory in Valencia, Spain. She criticizes that Saarlouis and Valencia had been asked to a “beauty contest” by their own Ford management.
“That’s perfidious,” said Jörg Köhlinger, head of the Mitte union district, on Wednesday in Saarlouis. “We are reluctant to have to compete against our own colleagues,” added Markus Thal, head of the works council at the Ford plant in Saarland.
In Saarlouis, there are almost 5,000 jobs whose future is only secured until 2025. Production of the Focus compact model will end there in three years. The employees and the works council are demanding clarity about how to proceed afterwards. In Valencia, the number of jobs is about the same. The middle-class SUV Kuga rolls off the assembly line there, probably until 2029.
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Ford has announced that the US group will only produce and sell purely battery-powered cars in Europe from 2030 onwards. Saarlouis or Valencia would then be the location where part of the future European electric fleet would be manufactured.
>>> Read about this: Ford is pursuing these electrical plans in the Cologne plant
Ford management had repeatedly made it clear that the US group would no longer need all of the existing European plants in the electric age and would produce fewer vehicles. Ford is already under massive pressure – according to the manufacturer association Acea, the group’s registration figures fell by 19 percent across Europe last year.
Works councils feel cheated
The Ford plant in Saarlouis has already cut many jobs in recent years, around 2,500 jobs have been cut there since the beginning of 2019. The works council agreed to these job cuts in the hope that the factory would also be secured in the long term. Works council chief Thal spoke of “fraud” if it were to be closed. Saarlouis and Valencia could equally produce electric cars. The need for e-models is increasing from year to year – Ford can therefore reconsider its closure plans.
The union announced resistance to a possible closure of the Saarlouis plant, where the union membership rate is almost 100 percent. The word “combat measures” was also mentioned at the press conference. Anyone who decides to end the factory “will get to know IG Metall,” says district manager Köhlinger. “We have a dedicated line to the federal and state governments,” added Benjamin Gruschka, chairman of the Ford works council in Germany.
>>> Read about this: Benjamin Gruschka – this is the new head of the works council at Ford
Ford does not want to comment at all on the future of its Saarlouis plant at the moment. “Our aim is to drive the future of mobility in Europe and to become a leading manufacturer of fully connected and electrified vehicles,” said a Ford spokesman in Cologne. The US group will continue to push ahead with the transformation of its business, “but we currently have nothing further to say about it”.
There is significantly more security for the approximately 5,000 employees in the Cologne Ford assembly plant. The small car Fiesta will be manufactured there until next year. After that, the factory will get at least one new electric vehicle, thus securing the future of the factory.
It is currently unclear whether other e-models will be added. For cost reasons alone, there is much to suggest that Cologne will very likely receive another e-model. Because car production in a high-wage location like Germany is only worthwhile for larger quantities.
From the point of view of the German Ford management, the fact that the US parent company is investing around one billion euros in Cologne for the new electrical production is a success. The decisive basis for this was laid with the restructuring program launched three years ago.
However, the restructuring of Ford Europe also had its price: around 12,000 jobs have been cut at the European locations of the US group since 2019, almost half of them in Germany. Ford promises that the total annual costs can be reduced by about a billion dollars. Ford has thus created a “new basis for robustness” in Europe, it was said in Cologne. In previous years, the European Ford subsidiary had accumulated losses in the billions.
Some time ago, Ford issued the motto to thin out the model range with classic cars – which also reduces Saarlouis’ chances. With the SUV model Kuga, Valencia is already producing a car with significantly better future prospects. The US group could in future concentrate the production of electrically powered SUVs in the Spanish plant.
Cooperation with VW
The switch to electric drive means that jobs are being lost throughout the automotive industry, including at Ford. However, new jobs are also being created – such as in the production of battery cells. But with the European branch of the US car company, this effect will be limited. Because for the production of its first generation of European electric vehicles, Ford obtains the electric platforms from the Wolfsburg competitor Volkswagen – together with the finished batteries.
Although Ford has saved billions in development costs, it does not need its own cell production in Europe. In a first contract, Volkswagen has promised to supply 600,000 electric platforms for a new European Ford E model. “But we could deliver more, even for a second model,” said VW in Wolfsburg.
Ford does not shy away from unpopular decisions. Last year Ford announced its complete withdrawal from India. Car production is also stopped in India. The Americans consciously accept the fact that this will cost two billion dollars. It is more important to them to leave India permanently. The US group had previously withdrawn from South America. At the end of 2014, Ford closed its car factory in Genk, Belgium, which employs around 6,000 people.
More: Ford refuses clear commitments for the Saarlouis plant