Up to 1000 jobs at risk at Ford’s Cologne plant
Ford has stated that it plans to switch from the current two-shift daily operation to a single-shift operation at the Cologne plant in January 2026. The plant currently produces the all-electric Ford Explorer SUV and the Capri crossover, both built on Volkswagen’s MEB platform.
Less than a year ago, the US carmaker already announced that it would cut a significant number of jobs across Europe by 2027. Some 4,000 positions will be made redundant, 2,900 of them in Germany. It also extended short-time working at the plant at that time. Ford says that the now-announced reduction in jobs will be carried out, where possible, with voluntary redundancies and buyouts.
Ford has taken a risk by phasing out the Fiesta small car and producing only electric cars at the Cologne plant. After all, the Explorer and Capri must sell well enough to sufficiently utilise a plant with an annual capacity of 250,000 cars. However, as there are already several MEB SUVs on the market, it is difficult for Ford to differentiate itself for customers – or to compete against VW brands with higher unit numbers and established MEB production in terms of price.
The American company also announced in August last year that it would be reducing its annual investment in pure electric vehicles from 40 to 30 per cent in order to focus more on hybrid drives. Nevertheless, its US parent company has continued to invest in the German location. In March, the US parent company said it would support its European business with fresh capital for its German subsidiary, announcing a capital injection of up to 4.4 billion euros. That comes after the manufacturer spent around $2 billion converting the site into a production hub for EVs.
What’s not clear is the impact it will have on Ford’s collaboration with Volkswagen, which has been providing the MEB platform and related components for use in the Explorer and Capri EVs. Nor is it obvious what the job cuts will mean for battery pack production at the Cologne site; currently, Ford assembles battery packs for the Explorer and Capri there, namely in three different configurations (52 kWh, 77 kWh, and 79 kWh). Ford hasn’t yet clarified where the job cuts will fall or which teams at the plant will be most affected, so it remains to be seen what happens to the plant’s overall operations.
What is clear is the motivation: Ford’s overall market share in Europe stands at just 3.3 per cent, with growth remaining slow. Total sales for the first seven months of 2025 only increased by 0.7 per cent, with Ford struggling to gain a foothold in a highly competitive European EV landscape dominated by VW, Tesla, and a wave of Chinese brands. While EV sales continue to grow for other companies, Ford appears not to have found a way to keep pace.
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