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Ford Could Close Factory in Europe

The European car market has dropped to scarcely believable levels, not seen for decades. Luxury automakers like Audi and BMW have seen a lesser impact, but Fiat, General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroen have been forced to take drastic measures like plant shutdowns and layoffs.
Next Ford Mondeo 1 photo
Photo: Ford
It seems that even Ford is suffering, and the American brand might have to close one of its factories in Europe due to an excess of production capacity. According to Bloomberg, Ford’s plant in Southampton, England, and Genk, Belgium are among the concerned facilities.

Ford is reportedly only using 63 percent of is capacity, and as a result could be looking at twice the losses that were previously expected for 2012.

Demand for the Fiesta supermini could pick up after the facelift is introduced, but even so, it looks bad for Ford employees. No general recovery can be expected in Europe for the next two years and as a result it might only be a matter of time before one plant is closed.

Ford Southampton employs about 500 people and makes the Transit line of vehicles. Meanwhile, Genk body and Assembly employs about 5,500 people, making the Galaxy, S-MAX and Mondeo.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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