Ford will manufacture its next generation EVs in Valencia, Spain

Ford has many factories scattered around the world but with its ambitious plans to sell only electric cars in Europe by 2030, it has to review its infrastructure. The European market has always been problematic for the company and it struggled to turn profit from its operations on the Old Continent.

The global shift to electric vehicles presents a big opportunity for Ford and so it is trying to make its future operations leaner in order to become more competitive. The company will shut down some of its factories in Europe, while others face a conversion.

It is good news today for the 6,000 workers of the Valencia Ford plant as the company announced the site has been chosen to manufacture the company’s future electric cars. The plant joins factories in Cologne in Germany, Turkey and Romania which have been selected for electric vehicle manufacturing.

Ford Valencia was established in 1973 and the first Ford Fiesta left the factory in October 1976. Later Fiesta was joined by Escort and over the years the factory produced Mondeo, Galaxy, Kuga, Transit Connect and Turneo and the S-Max. Over 9 million cars left the factory in Valencia in 46 years.

The plant in Cologne will be producing electric cars based on VW technology. The company is investing $2 billion to update the factory to use the MEB platform that Ford will license from Volkswagen. Valencia factory will focus on Ford’s next generation, in-house developed EV platform.

This not so great news is that many workers will lose their jobs. Relentless push for the change to EV technology means more automated production and Ford has already cut 12,000 jobs in Europe which is 24% of its 50,000 European employees.

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