Ford electric cars in Cologne: manufacturer invests two billion US dollars in production

More Ford electric cars are to come off the production line in Cologne in the coming years. Ford plans to invest around two billion US dollars in the production of electric cars at its Cologne site over the next six years. The first models, including an E-SUV, are to be manufactured in North Rhine-Westphalia as early as next year.

Ford electric cars in Cologne: site to be expanded

With an investment of around two billion U.S. dollars, carmaker Ford wants to consolidate the Cologne site. This is almost double the amount of what was proclaimed as a plan last year.

Among other things, the money is to be used to modernize the plant to meet the requirements for the production of electric cars. At the same time, however, the development of Ford electric cars in Cologne is to be driven forward. This is primarily intended to strengthen the location in the cathedral city. It is unclear what will happen to the plant in Saarlouis, Saarland, where the Ford Focus model is currently manufactured.

Has Ford slept through the e-car trend?

With the expansion of its site in Cologne, Ford aims to gain a further foothold in the growing field of electric mobility. Plug-in hybrids are currently only offered by the brand in the Kuga and Explorer models, and the Mustang Mach E even currently marks the manufacturer’s only purely electric vehicle and is anything but a box-office hit. No wonder with prices starting at 48,000 euros and up.

According to Ford, around 31,000 Mach E were sold in Europe last year. Only 2,700 of these were sold in Germany. The carmaker’s most popular models, such as the Fiesta, Focus or Puma, are currently not even offered as e-cars, but at most as mild hybrids.

The company jumped on the trend early with the Focus electric in 2013, but completely missed the boat in recent years. Ford’s European boss Stuart Rowley assumes that in 2030 less than 25 percent of all new Ford cars will still have an internal combustion engine. It will not be until 2035 that all Ford models will be available only with battery-electric drive.

Ford e-crossover in Cologne and electric Focus

By 2024, Ford plans to launch a full nine all-electric cars. These include, for example, an electric Focus, which is to be based on the Modular Electric Toolkit provided by Volkswagen.

As early as next year, an e-crossover SUV is already expected to roll off the production line in Cologne, Germany, with which the company hopes to catch up and attack models such as the VW ID.4, Skoda Enyaq and Hyundai Ioniq 5.

The “Medium Size Crossover” and “Sport Crossover” from 2023 and 2024, respectively, seem to be completely new models that should rank around the Kuga in terms of size. As with the Focus in Saarlouis, it is unclear what will happen with the Fiesta, which is also manufactured in Cologne.