Ford will cut up to 1,000 jobs at its electric vehicle plant in Cologne, Germany, as part of a restructuring effort aimed at adjusting production to sluggish demand for battery-powered cars in Europe. Operations will be reduced at the site from two daily shifts to a single one starting in January 2026.
The Cologne facility, where Ford invested $2 billion to transform it into an electric vehicle hub, currently builds the Explorer SUV and Capri crossover, both based on Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform.
But the company has struggled to sell enough of the models to keep the plant running at full capacity. The annual output potential of the factory is 250,000 cars, and the total workforce sits at 2,600. Apparently, the earlier production slowdown from November last year did not suffice.
Severance packages
Ford said the cuts would be carried out as much as possible through voluntary redundancies and buyouts. Discussions with unions are ongoing, and the final number of jobs to be eliminated will depend on these negotiations. The company promised to offer attractive severance packages to encourage employees to depart voluntarily.
This latest round of reductions comes on top of a significant restructuring plan unveiled in late 2024, when Ford announced it would cut around 4,000 jobs across Europe, including 2,900 in Germany, by 2027.
The Cologne plant, one of Ford’s most important European sites, has already seen significant upheaval, including the end of Fiesta hatchback production and a historic first strike earlier this year over cost-cutting measures.
If both rounds of layoffs are completed, Ford’s Cologne workforce (not only the factory but also HQ) will decline to about 7,600 employees, compared with roughly 12,000 last year and 20,000 five years ago. Another German production facility, in Saarlouis, is slated for complete closure.
Long-term future
The news of the deeper cut in the case of the unions questioning the long-term future of the Cologne plant is also noteworthy. That would be grim for current factory director, the Flemish managar Vic Daenen, facing the same fate twice.
Daenen was the last director of the Belgian site in Genk when Ford decided to wind down operations in 2014. Still, Ford has continued to back its German operations financially. In March, the company pledged up to €4.4 billion in extra capital, underscoring its commitment to Cologne despite current headwinds.
While sales of electric cars continue to grow all over Europe, they are expanding at a slower pace than forecasts had predicted. Ford cites this weaker-than-expected demand, noting that government subsidies in markets such as Germany have been reduced or withdrawn, further dampening consumer appetite.
Competition is also intensifying. Ford’s EVs built in Cologne must contend not only with the ID models from Volkswagen, which earns money by licensing the MEB technology to Ford, but also with an increase in Chinese brands making inroads in the European market.
No detailed decision
Earlier, Ford had already tried to respond to these unfavorable market trends. The car maker announced that it would cut its planned annual investment in fully electric vehicles from 40 percent to 30 percent, redirecting more resources toward hybrid models, which are experiencing a revival on the continent.
With Ford’s market share in Europe at just 3.3 percent and sales growth this year lagging at less than one percent, the cuts can only be regarded as a sign of the brand’s struggle to gain traction in the European EV sector. For workers in Cologne, however, the uncertainty remains acute, with clarity on which departments will bear the brunt of the reductions still to come.
