Although the Explorer Electric was unveiled in March 2023, Ford didn’t start production until June this year. First shown in July, the Capri reboot hit the assembly line in September. Now, Ford's European business is already reducing output at the Cologne factory in Germany. Why? Because the two Volkswagen-related products are not selling all that well.
German newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger learned from a Ford spokesperson the “rapidly deteriorating market conditions for electric vehicles” are putting the brakes on Explorer and Capri production. Employees will have no other way but to alternate between working one week and taking one week off until the Christmas vacation. It’s a huge blow to the Cologne operations considering Ford invested $2 billion to get the German plant ready for EV production.
It’s rare for an automaker to slow down a vehicle that has only been in production for a few months. Ford’s electric offensive in Europe came at the expense of the Fiesta, its popular supermini that was shockingly retired from the factory in July 2023. To make matters worse, the company doesn’t have many ICE cars left to fall back on since the Mondeo made in Valencia, Spain died in 2022 and the Focus will be retired in 2025 from the Saarlouis site in Germany.
Through the first nine months of the year, Ford’s market share in the European Union, the UK, and the European Free Trade Association/EFTA region (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) fell from 4.1% to only 3.3%. Numbers published by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) show Ford sold only 326,975 passenger cars, down by 18% compared to the January-September 2023 interval.
Automotive News Europe reports additional production cuts at the Cologne factory are planned for early 2025. The company’s first carbon-neutral site has a maximum annual capacity of 250,000 EVs, but hitting that number seems like a pipe dream for now.
Another electric Ford, the F-150 Lightning, is also going through a rough patch. Production at the Dearborn plant in Michigan will be paused from November 15 until January 6, 2025, because of poor demand. The seven-week shutdown includes the usual week-long holiday break and is the second time Ford has idled production. It first happened in February for nine weeks due to quality issues that weren’t solved until April.
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