Dhe discussion about another Ford plant closure, this time at the Saarlouis site in Germany, is an expression of uncertainty about the future strategy of the American car company in Europe. The previous strategy proved to be unsuccessful even before the car market switched to electric drive, but a new comprehensive plan is not yet really visible. Ford has seen sales in Europe fall by almost half. In 2019, 965,000 Fords were registered, but only 524,000 in 2021.
In addition, it has long been shown that Ford earns very little from the cars sold. This also seems clear when looking at the model range: it currently starts with the small car Fiesta built in Cologne for little more than 18,000 euros and the compact model Focus coming from Saarlouis for 23,000 euros. The two were important in the model range for a long time and were therefore built in Germany. But for a long time, such bread-and-butter cars only sold on the price, there was actually nothing to be gained from it. Ironically, the models that are more in the focus of customer interest at the moment and therefore also cost more, the sporty crossover Puma and the SUV Kuga, are not built in Germany, but in Romania and Spain. In the particularly popular segment of small SUVs, Ford does not have a model tailored to Europe, but the small SUV called Ecosport, originally designed for Brazil, which also did not make it into the hit list of the most popular small SUVs in Europe.
