U.S. auto giant Ford announced on Tuesday, September 16 that it would cut up to 1,000 jobs at its plant in the German city of Cologne. Prompted by weak European demand for electric vehicles (EVs), the plans come on top of 2,900 German job cuts already announced as part of a programme to reduce costs across Europe.
The plant would only work one shift a day from January 2026, Ford said, meaning positions would be subject to voluntary redundancy. Workers went on strike before a deal was struck in July which IG Metall union officials said would extend employment guarantees to more than 10,000 workers at the plant until 2032.
The automaker blames low “Demand for electric vehicles in Europe [which] remains significantly below sector forecasts.”
Ford has spent $2 billion (€2.3 billion) refitting the Cologne plant for EV production in anticipation of higher demand for low-emissions vehicles. But EV sales in Europe have failed to take off in the face of high up-front costs and inadequate charging infrastructure. Battery-electric cars made up about 15% of car sales on the continent in the first half of the year.
U.S. and European EV manufacturers are also falling behind Chinese producers.
