Ford awards Almussafes the electric vehicle platform that guarantees its future in the coming years

VALENCIA, 22 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Ford management has finally awarded the Valencian factory in Almussafes the production in Europe of the new GE2 electric vehicle platform from 2025, a workload with which the factory guarantees its continuity in the coming years.

The Almussafes factory will manufacture the company's two new electric models, as confirmed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, at the end of the control session in Congress.

The Valencian plant has thus prevailed over the Saarlouis plant (Germany), which also aspired to the platform. This is, Maroto stressed, "very good news" after a "very tough" negotiation process in which "a lot of competition" has taken place.

The oval multinational will offer a press conference this morning to the media and the works council in Almussafes is also convened at the plant.

The award represents a guarantee of continuity for the Valencian factory beyond 2025, since Almussafes, after losing the production of the Ford Mondeo this year, planned to progressively stop manufacturing the rest of the models until only keeping the Kuga in 2025, which It represents half of the current production. Now, you'll have the orders for the new electric models when that time comes.

Ford's decision on which factory in Europe will produce the electric vehicle platform, Almussafes or Saarlouis, has been preceded by a long process of negotiation and deliberation that has gone on for months.

After several unsuccessful meetings in Almussafes, the majority union UGT reached 'in extremis' on January 27 in Cologne the Agreement for Electrification, an adjustment plan as a Valencian proposal to convince the company that it contemplates measures of "salary containment", with increases not transferred to the salary tables, and labor flexibility. After this agreement, a consultation period was opened in both factories that has lasted five months.

The Valencian factory, with 5,971 employees, is a leading company in the automotive industry in the province and in the Valencian Community, where the Sagunto Volkswagen cell gigafactory will also be located.