Image Source: Detroitisit
Ford Motor Company has decided to reorganize its operations and will be producing its next-generation electric vehicles in Valencia. Over a competing factory in Saarlouis, Germany, the US manufacturer chose the location.
By 2030, the business intends to sell entirely electric vehicles in Europe, well ahead of a future EU prohibition on purchasing brand-new gasoline and diesel automobiles. However, a spokeswoman warned Reuters that “substantial” employment losses would result from the company’s new strategy.
More automated assembly lines are used to create electric vehicles, which require less human labor. When an EU prohibition on the sale of new gasoline and diesel automobiles, scheduled to take effect in 2035, goes into effect, factories that have not secured orders for the production of electric vehicles, like the Saarlouis factory, which employs 4,600 people, risk closing. There will still be personnel reductions, even in the locations chosen for the assembly of electric vehicles, such as the Valencia plant, which has 6,000 employees.
The business also operates a number of other factories in Europe, including ones in Romania, Turkey, and Cologne, Germany, which have been chosen to make electric vehicles. Ford has pledged to invest $2 billion in its Cologne factory, where it will start making electric vehicles using Volkswagen-licensed technology the following year.
Ford’s in-house electric vehicle technology will be used to manufacture all of the Ford car models at the Valencia facility.
Ford Motor Company has always had trouble turning a profit in Europe, a region with fiercely competitive auto industry. So it has used the push toward electric vehicles as a springboard for a leaner, reorganized firm in the area. From a workforce of more than 50,000 in Europe, Ford has already cut 12,000 jobs.
Stuart Rowley, chairman of Ford’s European division, declared that bringing Valencia our brand-new electric car architecture would help us develop a successful business in Europe.
Ford Motor Company’s global CEO stated that difficult choices would need to be made for Ford to transition to electric vehicles in Europe.
Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford Motor Company, stated that because of how fiercely competitive the European auto market is, the company could not survive and expand unless it produces fantastic quality products and runs incredibly lean operations.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the number of battery-powered cars registered in the UK in 2021 will surpass that of the previous five years combined due to a recent surge in electric vehicle sales (SMMT).
Electric car registrations increased by more than 75% last year, from 191,000 to 108,000 in 2020. Electric cars made up one in every four vehicles sold in December, while Tesla’s Model 3 electric vehicle was the second-best-selling vehicle in the US for the whole year.
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