According to Germany boss Herrmann, plant closings and job cuts are not planned.
Ford anticipates significantly lower production in its European plants over the next few years. The large Ford factories were “traditionally designed for 400,000 or 500,000 units,” said Germany boss Gunnar Herrmann in a podcast of “Wirtschaftswoche”.
Ford will no longer achieve these capacities in the future, especially because of the switch to electric cars. In the future, there will be an annual production of 250,000 or 300,000 vehicles per plant.
In addition, the conversion to e-cars will reduce the depth of added value, Herrmann said. Plant closings are not planned. Herrmann does not expect any further job cuts either: “We are through” with the downsizing.
Herrmann expressed sharp criticism of the swift conversion to electric vehicles demanded by the federal government and the EU. In good times, around 18 million new cars would be sold in Europe each year.
“If these vehicles are fully electric, this places extremely high demands on the infrastructure,” said Herrmann. The number of charging points will soon no longer be sufficient: “This year there will be ten electric cars on one charging station, next year it could be 20.”
In his opinion, “this topic is overslept not only in Germany, but also in Europe”.
