After General Motors-owned Opel shut down the historical Bochum factory, the Blue Oval followed suit with its complex in Genk, Belgium. This closure was first considered in 2012, a time when Ford started to cut down on assembly costs and uncompetitiveness.
In October of that year, the Blue Oval's former chief executive officer Alan Mulally stated that the One Ford plan led to strong profitability in North America, a feat that saw a struggling European division in dire need to adress its lingering cost efficiency-related issues.
Comprised of three facilities that then employed about 4,300 workers, the Ford Genk Body & Assembly plant is, at the moment, out of operation. Ford agreed to pay some €144,000 ($175,450) for each of the full-time workers to be laid off.
The former stomping ground of models such as the Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy, Genk produced around 14 million cars over the past half century, with the final car to roll off the production line being a white Galaxy van. With Genk's demise, Belgium is now left with only two car plants: Audi in Brussels and Volvo in Ghent.
“The proposed restructuring of our European manufacturing operations is a fundamental part of our plan to strengthen Ford’s business in Europe and to return to profitable growth,” said Stephen Odell, chairman and CEO of Ford of Europe, back in October, 2012. “We understand the impact this potential action would have on our work force in Genk, their families, our suppliers and the local communities.”
At the present moment, the 2015 Ford Mondeo is manufactured at a state-of-the-art facility in Valencia, Spain, where the Kuga crossover and Transit Connect van are also made. Sometime next year, this factory will also take over production of the all-new for 2015 Ford S-Max and the bigger Galaxy people carrier.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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