Ford’s European future looks bleak – Converseer

BERLIN (DPA, CONVERSEER) – United States carmaker Ford is facing a bleak future in Europe, an industry expert has said.

“The situation is bad and the prospects are even worse,” said Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, director of the Bochum-based Centre Automotive Research.

“Ford is too small in the passenger car sector to be able to operate profitably in Europe – that is the case now and will very likely remain so in the future,” he said.

Ford is facing a particularly tense situation at its German plants in the western city of Cologne, with workers possibly set to go on strike for the first time since the facility was set up in 1930 amid tough cost-cutting plans.

Industry expert Dudenhöffer gave a pessimistic assessment of Ford’s operations in Europe, saying the number of units sold was too low while labour costs were too high.

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Ford has been losing market share in Germany and Europe for a long time, the expert noted.

“Ford is shrinking and shrinking – it is now so small in Europe that it makes little sense to continue operating in the current constellation,” he continued his damning assessment.

Ford’s European operations are headquartered in Cologne, where it runs two plants currently employing a total of 11,500 people, down from 20,000 in 2018.

According to official figures, Ford models only accounted for 3.5% of newly registered cars in Germany last year, compared to 5.0% two years earlier.

The proportion is significantly higher for commercial vehicles, but these are not manufactured in Germany.