Snapshot
- BYD is reportedly in early talks with Ford to buy the Saarlouis plant.
- The factory currently focuses and could be closed by 2025.
- Ford Europe is cutting costs amid significant EV investment.
Chinese car maker BYD (Build Your Dreams) is reportedly in talks. Ford to buy its Saarlouis factory in Germany.
Ford’s Saarlouis plant – which is home to around 4,600 employees and exclusively manufactures the Ford Focus hatchback and wagon – is due to close in 2025 after declining demand for smaller combustion engine vehicles.
According to The Wall Street JournalFord management officials in Germany plan to travel to China next week, even though talks to sell Saarlouis to BYD are in the early stages, and may not materialize.
As BYD expands its operations around the world, the purchase of Ford’s Saarlouis plant could improve BYD’s European supply of vehicles.
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However, Ford is understood to be gauging interest in the plant from around 15 potential investors, so a deal is a long way off.
Ford has invested in launching a lineup of all-electric vehicles, aiming for EVs to account for at least 40 percent of its global sales by 2030 and EV-only in Europe by 2030, where emissions regulations are stricter. are
In the interim, it is focusing on more profitable SUVs, UTs and light commercial vans.
Ford has already banned passenger vehicles including Festival city hatch, Mondeo Medium sedans and wagons, and the future of the Focus looks bleak as the Saarlouis will soon close.
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Ford’s European division’s workforce is also shrinking dramatically in spare parts, internal combustion engine research, engineering and assembly because of the large EV investment and the resulting reduced labor and parts required for EVs. Reduces costs between
Meanwhile, BYD Auto was founded in 2003 and is now rapidly expanding its electric vehicles worldwide, including in Europe.
It already has electric bus assembly sites in Hungary and France, but all passenger vehicles viz Act 3 The crossover originates from its home country in Shenzhen.