12 February, 2015

By VIVA Team

Ford has added more than 3,000 jobs at its Valencia plant since 2013

US car manufacturing giant Ford has invested a further €1.1 billion into its car plant in Valencia in what has become the single largest investment ever in Spain’s car industry.

The injection of cash takes Ford’s total investment into its Spanish plant to €2.3 billion, after initially expanding the operation in 2013. Ford has had a presence in Valencia since 1973 when the company first purchased 270 acres of land for its first Spanish factory…

Once this latest factory expansion is complete, it will be able to produce 450,000 Ford vehicles a year, making it the second-largest Ford factory in the world after the Ford plant in Chongqing, China. The facility is being prepared for the production of six different model lines, reported Reuters.

Spain’s revived car industry has been instrumental in helping the country turn around its economic fortunes, with the sector adding 26,800 new jobs in 2014 alone, according to data from ANFAC, the Spanish car producers’ association.

In response to the news, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy visited the plant and was keen to praise the “key role” that Ford and other large motor companies have played in boosting the Spanish economy in recent years.

Auto production in Europe has tended to move south over the past decade, with the leading car companies attracted by the lower wages of Spain, Greece and Portugal. There are around 8,000 staff working at the Valencia plant, up from around 5,000 in early 2013. This growth largely came at a time of stagnation elsewhere in the country’s economy, but the car industry’s unions were praised for accepting flexible work practices and salary freezes in order to stay competitive.

The rewards of their actions are being reaped this year as Ford continues to grow, prompting the European Commission to predict even greater growth for Spain’s automobile industry in 2015.