Ford Sacks 1600 Workers At Valencia Factory In Spain

A lot is changing in Ford’s European activities. The Ford Fiesta has been taken out of production, the Focus will soon disappear, and Ford has turned to Volkswagen for the MEB platform on which to base the electric Explorer and its possibly more dynamic sister model, called Capri. From 2025, it will no longer produce anything in Saarlouis, Germany, and Ford’s factory in Valencia, Spain, has also been hit. For the second time in a short time, the brand is implementing a major round of layoffs.

Last year, it was announced that Ford was putting a big red line on the production of the S-Max and the Galaxy in Valencia. The result: 1,100 employees lost their jobs. Automotive News now reports that jobs are again at risk, up to 1,600. A Ford spokesman confirmed to Automotive News that Ford has informed local unions of its plans to lay off 600 employees. However, it doesn’t stop there. Another 1,000 jobs are at risk, although Ford says it is open to rehiring those 1,000 employees at a later stage. This will only happen in 2027, when Ford will make better use of the factory’s production capacity again.

Ford currently only builds the Ford Kuga in Valencia. Ford will add a new model to the production portfolio of its Spanish factory in 2027, a hybrid model of which it wants to build 300,000 units annually. It would need those 1,000 employees again for that. It is striking that Ford is adding a new hybrid model to its line-up in 2027. It previously indicated that it would only sell electric cars in Europe after 2030. It recently became clear that Ford has reconsidered that intention.

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