The car Chinese arrive in Germany. BYD ready to take over the Ford plant?
The American carmaker continues to cut cuts in various parts of Europe and, with the departure of the Americans, the survival of Ford's German plant in Saarlouis could depend on the Chinese BYD
Automotive China is about to land on the Old Continent . And what Carlos Tavares , number 1 of Stellantis, has been repeating for a long time – namely that oriental brands are ready to wipe out the native ones if the EU doesn't do something – could soon come true. Among the names destined to become more familiar to the ears of European drivers is undoubtedly Byd who, after presenting three new models, would have set his sights on the Ford factory in Saarlouis, in western Germany, near the border with the Luxembourg, to produce directly on site. Thousands of Chinese electric cars could soon be churned out at the site where the US Blue Oval has been making the model most loved by Europeans, the Focus, for years.
This, at least, is what the Wall Street Journal claims, according to which Ford executives are about to fly to China, so as to get rid of the plant located in the heart of the Old Continent in time for the cessation of production of the Focus during 2025.
SAARLOUIS, THE FORD PLANT THAT BYD LIKES
The German plant, which even employed about 6,200 people, was sacrificed by the Americans engaged in rationalizing costs to support those, far from secondary, imposed by the ecological transition.
The fate of Saarlouis had been hanging in the balance for a long time but they were made official last June. The number one of the European branch, Stuart Rowley , announced the fatal decision, explaining that Saarlouis lost the internal competition with the Valencia factory to obtain new battery-powered productions: “Valencia – argued the manager – offers better prospects for the future, especially from an economic point of view”.
FORD'S EUROPEAN DIET
Both the incentives allocated by the Spanish government and the cost of Iberian labour, lower than the German one, weighed on the decision taken by the leaders of the Blue Oval. "Now – added the manager – we are trying to find alternatives to guarantee a future for as many workers as possible affected" by Ford's departure. And the alternative could be, precisely, Chinese.
After all, Ford has been cutting cuts in the Old Continent for years: in 2018, for example, it had abandoned the gearbox factory in Blanquefort, France, while in 2019 it had pulled down the shutters of the engine plant in Bridgend, Wales, with the simultaneous closure of the Russian plants of Vsevolozhsk, Naberezhnye Chelny and Yelabuga, to remain active only in Cologne (Germany), Craiova (Romania) and Valencia.
The new architecture dedicated to next-generation electric cars of the Dearborn-based company will arrive in Valencia so as to face the stop of the production and sale of internal combustion cars in Europe for 2030.
OUT THE AMERICANS, THE CHINESE ARE COMING
In the coming months, the American automaker is expected to cut around 3200 jobs in various parts of Europe to move some of its activities to the United States and comply with Joe Biden's Wrath. The warning was launched on Monday by IG Metall, the German union of metalworkers: Germany would be the most affected country.
With Americans fleeing the EU, the arrival of the Chinese for once may not be unwelcome, helping, hopefully, to preserve employment in industrial areas that are otherwise at risk of desertification.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/i-cinesi-dellauto-arrivano-in-germania-byd-pronta-ad-accaparrarsi-limpianto-ford/ on Thu, 26 Jan 2023 07:00:39 +0000.