Ford may no longer sell cars in Germany

Ford received some really bad news on May 23. The iconic US carmaker has been banned from selling its cars in Germany for the time being. This was decided by the LG Munich. As part of his ruling, however, the judges had more unpleasant news for the manufacturer.

It can’t get any worse

News about high damage sums or recalls of car manufacturers are not new to us. But of all things, the world-famous carmaker Ford now suffered a serious setback at the Munich Regional Court. The judges ruled that the manufacturer is henceforth prohibited from producing or selling its vehicles in Germany. And that was not all. On top of that, the company is to buy back all vehicles that are currently still for sale at dealers and then destroy them. The judges went even further in their ruling. Even the cars that have already been sold are to be recalled by Ford from buyers to make them unroadworthy.

Serious violation of patent law

However, it is not safety defects or production errors that now deny Ford’s vehicles a right to exist on German roads. Rather, the company is said to have violated valid patents of a total of eight manufacturers in many respects. For example, Ford summarily failed to pay royalties for its microchips, which are responsible for the car’s own mobile communications (4G). Of course, Ford cannot be expected to comply with these extensive demands of the ruling overnight. Nevertheless, to create a lot of pressure, the court has demanded a horrendous sum in the form of a security deposit of 227 million euros. This will now be withheld until the company has complied with the court order or reached an agreement with the plaintiff on corresponding license payments.

Destruction of 100,000 vehicles

The ruling is probably truly unprecedented in its magnitude. After all, Ford must now reclaim over 100,000 affected vehicles from dealerships and buyers if no agreement is reached. Subsequently, the company cannot even resell them, but has been obliged to destroy them. How far this actually has to go and whether a mere destruction of the microchip in question is not enough is still questionable for us at the moment. What is certain is that this is bad news not only for Ford itself, but also for fans of the brand. After all, there is currently a noticeable shortage of vehicles on the car market anyway. The near future for Ford dealers also looks rather bleak.