Photo: Ford
An announcement made by Ford Europe today states the company has signed a new agreement with its workers council in Cologne, Germany, following which this will be the sole production facility making the next generation Fiesta supermini.
It's believed this will result in $400 million (€295 million) in savings on Ford's part and the conservation of nearly 24,000 jobs, which would otherwise be in jeopardy due to production overcapacity.
“This agreement and our decision to build the next-generation Ford Fiesta in Cologne marks another important step in Ford of Europe’s transformation and underscores our commitment to invest in competitive vehicle production in Germany,” said Stephen Odell, president, Ford of Europe.
Through this new agreement, Ford is also trying to prepare for any future fluctuations in demand. Workers will be allows a more flexible schedule. Meanwhile, Ford will control the number of shifts, increasing and decreasing them according to certain conditions. The shifts themselves will also be stretched or shortened by up to 30 minutes.
Some parts and labors which are currently outsourced will be moved into the Cologne plant. The engine assembly line will also receive an extra shift to cope with expected future demand for the 1-liter EcoBoost engine with the coming Focus facelift launch.
The sixth and current generation of the Ford Fiesta is assembled for the European markets at two locations. Production started out in August 2008 at the Cologne plant, near which development also took place. A second plant in Valencia, Spain, started rolling out Fiestas in the spring of 2009.
Ford Valencia currently makes the C-Max (since 2010), the Kuga C-segment SUV since 2012 and the Transit Connect beginning last year. In the Fiesta's place, we believe the Almussafes factory will receive another hotly anticipated new Ford model, the Mondeo, together with the S-MAX large MPV.
So when is this new Fiesta coming out? Well, Ford is guarding that secret with its life, but they did reveal that the agreement with its employees runs between 2017 and 2021. If 2017 marks the start of production, the current generation will have been around for 9 years, 4 of which will be represented by the facelift.
“This agreement and our decision to build the next-generation Ford Fiesta in Cologne marks another important step in Ford of Europe’s transformation and underscores our commitment to invest in competitive vehicle production in Germany,” said Stephen Odell, president, Ford of Europe.
Through this new agreement, Ford is also trying to prepare for any future fluctuations in demand. Workers will be allows a more flexible schedule. Meanwhile, Ford will control the number of shifts, increasing and decreasing them according to certain conditions. The shifts themselves will also be stretched or shortened by up to 30 minutes.
Some parts and labors which are currently outsourced will be moved into the Cologne plant. The engine assembly line will also receive an extra shift to cope with expected future demand for the 1-liter EcoBoost engine with the coming Focus facelift launch.
The sixth and current generation of the Ford Fiesta is assembled for the European markets at two locations. Production started out in August 2008 at the Cologne plant, near which development also took place. A second plant in Valencia, Spain, started rolling out Fiestas in the spring of 2009.
Ford Valencia currently makes the C-Max (since 2010), the Kuga C-segment SUV since 2012 and the Transit Connect beginning last year. In the Fiesta's place, we believe the Almussafes factory will receive another hotly anticipated new Ford model, the Mondeo, together with the S-MAX large MPV.
So when is this new Fiesta coming out? Well, Ford is guarding that secret with its life, but they did reveal that the agreement with its employees runs between 2017 and 2021. If 2017 marks the start of production, the current generation will have been around for 9 years, 4 of which will be represented by the facelift.
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