Ford's German Focus plant to slash production

Ford Motor plans to slash productionat its Focus compact car plant in Saarlouis, Germany,media reported.

Production at the Saarlouis plant will be cut after August 29 this year, and Ford is expected to announce future plans for the plant at the end of June, Markus Thal, head of the German works council, told the media.Ford has previously said that by 2030, its passenger car lineup in Europe will be all-electric.

Image credit: Ford Germany

As recently as June 1, Martin Sander took over as head of Ford's European passenger car business and was in charge of Ford's German operations (including the Cologne and Saar Louis plants).Sander was previously head of European sales for Audi and is now general manager of Ford's Model e European business unit.

In March of this year, Ford announced the establishment of an independently operatedelectric vehicleand fuel vehicle business unit to fully compete with its rivals in the electric vehicle and fuel vehicle business.Among them, Ford Model e will accelerate innovation, launch more industry-breaking electric vehicle products, form economies of scale, and be responsible for the development of software, intelligent networking technologies and services for various business units of Ford Motor.

The Ford Focus model sold 27,151 units in Europe in the first four months of this year, down 28 percent from the same period last year, according to Dataforce.According to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), Ford sold 173,292 vehicles in Europe in the first four months of this year.