Ford had already announced this week that it was shutting down its plant in Genk, Belgium and moving production of the new Mondeo (above) to its factory in Valencia, Spain. Now comes word that that its Southampton plant in England, which builds the Transit, will also be closed.
Ford is staring down the barrel of a €1-billion loss in Europe this year, and is expected to shed around 6,200 jobs across the continent. 4,300 of those went with the closure of Genk, and a further 1,400 have now been announced with the closure of Southampton and the closing of a panel stamping section of its vast facility at Dagenham, near London. Dagenham will stay on as a producer of diesel engines though, saving around 3,500 jobs.
Transit production will move to Ford's plant in Turkey as Ford seeks a return to European profitability by 2015.
Stephen Odell, CEO Ford of Europe said: "We have to act quickly and decisively to address the collapse in consumer demand in Europe today and position Ford for profitable growth tomorrow. We are reaffirming our commitment to the UK with a major investment in powertrain and engineering and one which will reinforce the UK’s central role in Ford’s global powertrain strategy"
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