Ford To Slash 1,000 Jobs At Cologne Plant: Report

Ford to cut 1,000 jobs at Cologne plant in early 2026, Bloomberg reported citing DPA.

The jobs cuts will be seen in electric car production segment in the German city of Cologne due to weak demand, the U.S. carmaker said in a statement on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.

"In Europe, demand for electric cars remains well below industry forecasts," Reuters said citing the statement.

It further read, "Ford will therefore switch production at the Cologne plant to single-shift operation from January 2026," resulting in the job losses.

In a similar report last month, Bloomberg said that Ford Motor Company is planing to cut more than 470 jobs at two plants in South Africa, just as imports of cars from India and China jump.

The US carmaker sent an official notice to labor groups announcing its intention to lay off workers at its Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria and the Struandale engine plant in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province, labor union Solidarity said in an emailed statement on Thursday.

Earlier in 2024 Ford Motor Co. decided to lay off 14% of its Europe workforce amid similar concerns of weak electric vehicle (EV) demand, poor government support for the EV shift and tough competition from subsidized Chinese rivals, Reuters reported.

The reprot further added that, the auto company announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs, nearly 2.3% of its total workforce of 174,000, primarily in Germany and Britain. However, it noted that the European layoffs should take place by the end of 2027.

In May 2025, USA Today reported that, Ford is cutting nearly 350 connected-vehicle software jobs in its effort to improve efficiency in the United States and Canada. The affected employees, who made up about 5% of the connected-software team, were notified on May 13.