The model “will not be 100% electric”, but it will guarantee levels higher than what an electric platform would currently mean
VALENCIA, May 10. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ford Almussafes plant (Valencia) will manufacture 300,000 units per year of a new vehicle that will be launched in mid-2027. It is a model that will not be 100% electric, but that, “in global terms of workload and employment will guarantee higher levels than what an electric platform would mean today.”
This was announced by the UGT union after the meeting held this Friday with the management of Ford Europe. After the meeting, the union organization described the information received as “very good news”, although it clarified that this “does not solve everything” and from now on we must “address the issue of employment.”
UGT has explained that the vehicle that the Valencian plant will manufacture is “a global car that will reach the figure of 300,000 units per year.” It will be “a totally new vehicle, and will be launched in mid-2027,” he noted.
In the words of Ford’s European vice president, Kieran Cahill, –cited by the union–, this is the company’s recognition of Valencia “for all the commitments fulfilled in recent years, and in response to the Agreement for Electrification, which , despite the turnaround that the automobile situation has experienced with respect to it, continues to be the tool that allows us to bet on the future of the Valencian plant.”
The new car will not be 100% electric, “but in global terms of workload and employment it will guarantee higher levels than what an electric platform would mean today,” the same union sources underline.
In the opinion of UGT, “this does not solve everything, and now the issue of employment will have to be addressed.” To this end, the union will be convened by the local leadership next week, they say.
“Despite the difficulties that we will still have to overcome, and taking into account the situation of uncertainty that we have experienced in recent months, and which became truly worrying, today we can say that we have very good news,” they say from UGT.
This Friday’s meeting takes place at a time when the Valencian factory has a new Temporary Employment Regulation File (ERTE) in force until June 20 that will affect more than 2,000 workers for several days.
The cessation of production of the Transit van – the Valencian factory now only produces one model, the Kuga – has been compounded by an engine supply problem and lower demand from the North American market, according to the majority union.
On March 27, Ford’s global president, Jim Farley, in a meeting in Dunton (England) committed to assigning the Valencian factory the production of a multi-energy passenger vehicle, which would represent a “sufficient” workload for the factory, as transferred to UGT.
