After exactly half a century since work on the Belgium Ford plant Genk started, the company announced they will be shutting it down by 2014.
The production factory is one of the biggest auto plants in Europe and was Ford's main European plant in Belgium. 9,000 employees overall will officially be out of a job once the plant closes for good.
''This is taking us by surprise and is an extremely bitter pill,'' Christian Democrat union representative Johan Lamers told The Associated Press.
The European sales have been down this year according to Reuters, which is the main reason Ford will be shutting down the factory. The company has been under a lot of stress in Europe mainly due to the lack of sales and demand for their vehicles during the European debt crisis according to Reuters.
The plant manufactured Ford cars such as the Mondeo, the S-MAX minivan and the Galaxy car. It was also responsible for over 30 percent of car production in Belgium.
Ford said it plans to move the production of all three lines to their production plant in Valencia, Spain.
The announcement came barely a month after Ford had given reassurances about production at the Genk plant, Lamers said.
Overall for 2102, the company has announced they will probably lose more than $800 million in Europe. They are used to pulling in more than a quarter of their auto sales in Europe, but that number is expected to be pretty low for 2012.
Nevertheless, Ford remains positive that they can still make a minimal profit in Europe and believes closing the plant is what is best for the company.
"The proposed restructuring of our European manufacturing operations is a fundamental part of our plan to strengthen Ford's business in Europe," CEO Ford of Europe Stephen Odell said in a press statement.
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