Ford is reducing German output of of its top-selling Fiesta in the fourth quarter of 2014 as demand in some key markets has slowed.
The EU area’s car market recovery continued in August with sales up 2.1% on last year, according to ACEA. In the first eight months of the year car sales in the EU rose 6% year on year to 8,336,159 units but the fragility of recovery was underlined by declines in France, Germany and Italy (-2.6%, -0.4% and -0.2% respectively).
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According to Reuters, Ford will stop Fiesta hatchback assembly in Cologne, its main European plant, on 11 days in October and November, citing “lower demand” in the second half of the year.
Ford said it would apply for subsidies under the German government’s “Kurzarbeit” short-work programme, affecting about 4,000 workers at Cologne. The plant employs 17,300.
The scheme, used by many struggling companies in the 2008-09 recession, allows jobs to be retained by reducing employees’ hours when plant usage is low with the government compensating workers for some of their lost pay.
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