Instead one should electric car-Platform – also called “architecture” – are being built in Valencia, Spain, as the group announced on Wednesday. There is “the best positioned plant” to produce vehicles based on an electric architecture, according to the company.
The decision hits the 4,600 Ford employees in Saarland hard. Because car production at the site is only secured until mid-2025, then production of the combustion model Ford Focus will be phased out. From then on the tapes stand still – unless Ford puts other plans on the table after all.
The workforce had hoped that the jobs would be largely secure even after 2025 thanks to investments in electronics. The management’s decision now destroys this hope. Sharp criticism came from employee representatives and politicians.
Saarland’s Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger and Economics Minister Jrgen Barke (both SPD) described the decision as a “farce”. One gets the impression that the internal bidding process was never fair. In fact, Saarlouis is “clearly ahead” compared to Valencia. The fact that the workforces of both locations were played off against each other in the bidding process is “shabby”. The state government will fight for jobs.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Green Party) called on Ford to “promptly make concrete plans for the future of the Saarlouis plant”. As the owner of the plant, employer and major automobile manufacturer in Germany, the largest European automobile market, the group has a special responsibility, said Habeck.
Markus Thal, Chairman of the Works Council at the Saarlouis site, said: “We were lied to, cheated and taken for a ride. For three years we were run into a wall.” In a first statement, the works councils spoke of a “framed game” and a “sham procedure”. They fought, were the clear winners in the bidding competition and are now being robbed of their success. The chairman of the general works council in Germany, Benjamin Gruschka, described Ford’s decision as a “complete failure of the European headquarters”. According to the works councils, the location decision was evident from the start.
After the fundamental decision of the management, restructuring is now pending in Valencia. The investment amount and the specific car model will be determined at a later date. The future looks bleak in Saarlouis. There is a risk of closure or sale, said works council Gruschka with a view to the end of Focus production in 2025.
Ford Europe boss Stuart Rowley told the dpa that the decision in favor of Spain was not a decision to close the Saarlouis site. “We are now trying to find ways to give as many affected workers a future as possible.” From a technical and strategic point of view, the two locations were on par, but from a financial point of view, Valencia had the advantage.
When asked whether Saarlouis still had a future in the Ford Group after 2025, Rowley said that a task force would now be set up and how to proceed with the employee representatives and the Saarland state government would be discussed. Look at opportunities that lie inside and outside of Ford. He wasn’t more specific. Regarding the allegation that the decision-making process was unfair, Rowley said: “That is not correct – we have invested a lot of time in six months to consult with the decision-makers from both locations.”
The works council no longer believes in corresponding offers from Ford. “These are tranquilizers, we’ve had enough of them,” said employee representative Thal. “You can take them all with you and introduce them to others.” Now you have to see what legal options there are within the framework of the collective agreement.
Ford is in transition. In the age of electromobility, the US automaker initially lagged behind its competitors and seemed to have ignored the signs of the times. In the meantime, however, Ford is investing heavily in electromobility in order to be able to hold its own against the competition in the future. The European headquarters in Cologne plays a major role in the Americans’ plans, the group wants to invest a total of two billion US dollars there in the coming years and manufacture electric cars, with production scheduled to start at the end of 2023.
Ford has around 15,000 employees in the cathedral city. There, the planned Stromer are based on the electric platform from VW (Volkswagen (VW) vz). Ford wants to install its own platform in Valencia in order to build further electric models. It is unclear when the first Ford Stromers will roll off the assembly line there – “later in the decade”, it says vaguely.
Industry experts have little hope for the continued existence of the Ford plant in Saarlouis. In order for Saarlouis to be involved in electrical production after all, Ford would have to experience a sales boom in electric vehicles in the coming years, said Stefan Bratzel from the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch Gladbach. “But that is absolutely not in sight – in terms of quantity, the locations where investments have been made so far should be sufficient.”
IG Metall on the Ford decision: bidding competition ‘unworthy’
The industrial union IG Metall and the Ford works council do not want to accept the decision of Ford management against the Saarlouis location. “The metalworkers will use all means to defend themselves against the liquidation of the Ford site,” said Jrg Khlinger, head of the IG Metall district in the middle, on Wednesday. If management doesn’t give in, Ford will feel “the resistance of an entire state,” it said.
The union spoke of “an unworthy and brutal bidding competition between the Ford locations in Valencia and Saarlouis”. The Saarlouis location, with its current 4,600 employees, is to be “handled down piecemeal”. Together with the supplier park, around 6,600 jobs are threatened in Saarland. Ford announced on Wednesday that it had chosen Valencia in Spain as the location for the production of new electric cars – and therefore not Saarlouis.
IG Metall and the Ford works council demanded future prospects for the Ford location in Saarlouis and called for a fight to secure the location and jobs. “Without prospects for Saarlouis, we will not accept the group’s decision,” said the managing director of IG Metall Vlklingen, Lars Desgranges.
Khlinger said that over the past three years the employees have done everything they can to keep the Ford location in Saarlouis competitive. They would also have accepted short-time work, reduced shifts and downsizing. “Instead of working together with the workforce to secure the location, the management has put its hands on its lap. Now an entire region is threatened with being sidelined.”
According to the Ford works council chairman Markus Thal, more than 2500 jobs have been cut in Saarlouis since 2018. “We delivered, the management made us empty promises. We feel lied to and betrayed by the Ford Europe management!”
Ford shares ended up trading on the NYSE a marginal 0.09 percent up at $11.48.
SAARLOUIS / Berlin (dpa-AFX)
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