Ford Cologne starts battery assembly with support from Volkswagen

Plant Starts Ford Prefers to Build its Batteries Itself

2025-06-19 Source: dpa | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

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Ford in Cologne (Germany) has now started battery assembly. However, they cannot do without Volkswagen expertise.

Ford hopes, among other things, for greater market success from the e-SUV variant of the Capri. To ensure that as much expertise as possible is in their own hands, the Cologne team is now assembling the batteries for the vehicle themselves.(Image: Ford) — Ford hopes, among other things, for greater market success from the e-SUV variant of the Capri. To ensure that as much expertise as possible is in their own hands, the Cologne team is now assembling the batteries for the vehicle themselves.
(Image: Ford)

Ford Germany has officially opened its Cologne battery assembly plant, as has now been announced. The batteries will be installed in the Ford electric car models Explorer and Capri, which were launched last year. However, central components for these vehicles must be supplied by Volkswagen, as further reports state. The Wolfsburg company had taken over battery assembly until the end of 2024. In the startup phase of the battery plant, however, Ford has been doing this itself since the beginning of the year. Series production is now beginning. Around 180 employees work in Ford's battery plant, supported by 190 robots that weld, glue, and screw to assemble battery cases. According to the information, 2,775 individual parts are assembled into a drive battery on the approximately two-kilometer-long production line.

The Golden Times à la Ford Fiesta are over

However, Ford is also known to be in a difficult phase. The U.S. company's automotive business in Germany has been unprofitable for a long time. Plans for job cuts recently led to the first strike in Ford's history. Currently, Ford still has about 11,500 jobs on the list in Cologne. But by the end of 2027, there should be 2,900 fewer. And in 2018, there were still 20,000. The two new electric cars have not yet brought about the hoped-for success, as further reports state. However, there was some positive development in sales in recent months, as 12.9 percent more Ford cars were newly registered in Germany in May compared to the same month last year, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority. Ford's market share stood at a modest 3.7 percent, significantly lower than in times when the Cologne brand was a big player in the passenger car market with hits like the Fiesta. After Ford let the last Fiesta roll off the assembly line in 2023, there was no successor—not even in the electric sector.

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