The Blue Oval brand and VW have been closely collaborating across the past few years on a range of models, from the new Amarok (a reskinned Ranger) to the new Transporter (a Ford Transit Custom).
This relationship has worked the other way too, with Ford launching the Explorer and Capri in Europe, sharing their underpinnings with the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 respectively.
Unfortunately, Ford hasn’t been able to capitalise on the normally strong demand for mid-sized electric SUVs, and has now announced it’ll cut nearly one-quarter of its relevant workforce due to it.
Reuters reports Ford of Europe has announced 1000 job cuts at the Cologne factory in Germany where the Explorer and Capri are made, delivering a devastating blow to the plant which it says currently employs just over 4000 staff.
“In Europe, demand for electric cars remains well below industry forecasts. Ford will therefore switch production at the Cologne plant to single-shift operation from January 2026,” a spokesperson for the carmaker told the publication.
The news of the job cuts comes just two months after Ford agreed with the union representing its workers to introduce a job protection scheme at the factory. At the time it was reported voluntary redundancies will be enacted across the next half decade, though some of these will be brought forward to align with the latest cuts.
Ford’s Cologne factory was once a powerhouse of its European operations, producing the Capri, the Fiesta and a number of other important models for the market over the years.
The brand is also facing the closure of its Saarlouis factory at the end of the year, culminating with the end of production for the Focus.
A lack of EV demand isn’t just impacting Ford, with even Volkswagen itself last year making significant changes to where its vehicles would be made.
The Zwickau factory which has been one of the production homes of the ID.4 – plus the ID.3 and Cupra Born hatchbacks – will only build the Audi Q4 e-tron from 2027, with the ID.4 set to be moved to Emden exclusively.
Volkswagen hasn’t announced plans to keep the ID.5 alive, with demand for the similarly coupe-styled Capri also understood to be less than the respective traditional ID.4 and Explorer stablemates.
Discussion about this post