The future of Ford’s factory in Genk, Belgium, has been thrown into doubt, following “an emergency meeting” with senior personnel as well as union officials earlier today.
The Genk factory is where the present Ford Mondeo, S-MAX as well as Galaxy are built on Ford’s EUCD platform. The plant employs 4,300 people.
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The Mondeo, S-MAX as well as Galaxy are all due for replacement. However, instead of beginning production of the new Mondeo in Genk this month, it now seems likely that Ford will look to develop it elsewhere.
The Genk plant will then be closed when the S-MAX as well as Galaxy reach the end of their production cycles next year, to assist sluggish Ford’s monetary losses in the European market.
As well as being a difficult time to offer cars, sales of big D-segment automobiles like the Mondeo as well as conventional big MPVs have been in decline for some time, as buyers upgrade to Audi A4s, BMW 3 series as well as Mercedes C-Classes, or switch to SUVs.
The all-new Mondeo has already been delayed. A Ford spokesperson stated that this was to “work with different issues to guarantee a robust as well as premium launch”.
However, in addition to making sure the Mondeo takes the fight to the premium German brands, it now seems that the decision on where the cars and truck will be built is likewise affecting the next Mondeo’s launch.
