Ford Germany receives financial support from the USA
Ford is getting help from its parent company because the e-cars no longer offer the favorable price-performance ratio of their conventional predecessors.
Ford Explorer
(Image: Florian Pillau)
Ford Germany is to be given greater financial independence with the boost of one-off financial support from its parent company. According to the plan, a capital injection of up to 4.4 billion euros will help to significantly reduce debts. Ford-Werke GmbH in Cologne has debts amounting to 5.8 billion euros. In addition, a further several hundred million euros over the next four years should help to revitalize the business.
The move is intended to enable Ford Germany to assume greater financial responsibility. In return, the parent company is withdrawing its 2006 guarantee to assume the debts of the German subsidiary.
The Explorer and Mustang e-cars are performing below expectations
Ford Germany had invested almost two billion euros in upgrading its Cologne plant for the production of electric cars. Neither the Ford Explorer (test) nor the Ford Mustang (test), both electric car models, have achieved the hoped-for sales figures since their launch. Not even the cost reduction through the use of a technical basis from the Volkswagen Group has helped Ford to improve production efficiency sufficiently.
Ford therefore also wants to save on personnel and, according to plans from the end of 2024, will cut 2900 jobs in Germany by the end of 2027. According to the company, most of these jobs will be lost at the Cologne plant. In total, Ford is aiming to cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, 800 of them in the UK and 300 in other EU countries. Ford employs around 12,000 people at the Cologne site and just under 15,000 throughout Germany.
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On the occasion of the announcement of the transformation plan, Ford said that in addition to the transfer, Ford USA would also help to strengthen its competitiveness with a new product range.
(fpi)