Ford of Europe is another to car maker caught out by the slowing demand for new EVs. It is having to cut production on models like Explorer and Capri, despite them only being on the market for a short while. The company blames the “rapidly deteriorating market conditions for electric vehicles.”
Ford started production of the Explorer in June 2024, despite the car being shown a year earlier. And the Capri has only been on the production line a few months. Owing to slow demand and poor sales the firm is reducing output at its Cologne factory in Germany.
Employees are being asked to take off alternate working weeks until the end of the year. Ford invested $US2b to get the German plant ready for EV production and the carbon-neutral factory is now on a go-slow.
Moreover, the company’s electric offensive in Europe saw the end of the Fiesta. Its popular supermini went out of production a year ago. And where other companies have ICE powered cars to fall back on, Ford hasn’t many. Mondeo production ended in 2022, Fiesta has gone and Focus is being put out to pasture next year.
As a result, Ford’s market share in the European Union has fallen from 4.1 to 3.3 per cent this year. The company sold 326,975 passenger cars, down by 18 per cent compared with the year prior.
And production cuts at the Cologne factory will continue into 2025. While maximum annual capacity at the site is 250,000 EVs, it is unlikely to hit anything close to that in the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately for the company, the US experience mirrors that in Europe where the F-150 Lightning isn’t doing well. Production at the Dearborn plant in Michigan is ending from now until January 6, 2025, a seven-week shutdown because of poor demand and oversupply. It is the second time it has had to interrupt production, the first because of quality control issues earlier in the year.
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