Ford is to lay off its workers for an additional day a month at its Genk, Belgium, manufacturing plant in order to trim vehicle production in the face of a weaker European market.
Ford said in a statement that it will continue to run its Genk plant – which manufactures the Mondeo, Galaxy and S-Max models – on a four-day-week pattern, as in 2011. However, it will average one additional non-production day per month at the plant and is pulling ahead five of these down days and grouping them around the regional carnival school holidays in February, starting February 20.
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Ford says that the production adjustment is in response to a weaker market situation affecting the industry in Europe.
For 2012, Ford is forecasting total industry sales in its 19 European markets of between 14m and 15m units, down from 15.3m units in 2011.
Vehicle sales in Europe are widely expected to fall in 2012 due to the impact of slower economic growth and the continuing financial crisis in the eurozone. In its latest assessment, the IMF forecasts what it terms a ‘mild recession’ for the eurozone area this year, with GDP growth forecast at a negative -0.5%.
LMC Automotive forecasts that the West European car market will fall by around 5% in 2012.
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