Ford España announced yesterday the transfer of its headquarters from Madrid to Valencia, specifically to Almussafes, where the company’s manufacturing plant has been located since the seventies.
The change of Ford España S.L. will be reinstated with effect from January 1, 2024 and will mean the return of its headquarters to Almussafes, where it was originally established on September 26, 1973. Therefore, more than a transfer, Ford’s move is a return, since the change in Madrid took place on June 5, 1992 for administrative reasons, as the company explained yesterday.
However, the automotive industry recalled that the Almussafes factory already represents the main headquarters of its operations in Spain and assured that “this change of address will not involve any movement of personnel or facilities, nor will it have a fiscal impact on the company, since the tax domicile has always been located in Valencia”.
The company has been manufacturing vehicles at the Valencian plant since 1976, and since then its car and engine manufacturing activities have produced more than 12 million vehicles and 16 million engines, making it one of the largest exporters industry giants in Spain. Close to 90% of the production of vehicles produced in Valencia are exported to more than 75 countries around the world, including the USA.
The news of the change of headquarters was made public just three days after the announcement by PowerCo, the company of the Volkswagen Group responsible for the future gigafactory in Sagunto, which also packed its bags from Madrid to be located in Valencia , city in which they opened an office and where they have started hiring new staff for their facilities.
That is why the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, yesterday spoke of the trend when he became aware of a piece of news that, in his opinion, represents an important endorsement of the stability and trust that the Valencian Community means.
“Since 2017, more than 3,100 companies from other communities have moved their headquarters to the Valencian Community. We are the second autonomy with the best balance in attracting companies. There are opportunities here,” he said. For the Valencian president, it is also “a bet on the future”, as was the choice of the Valencian factory as an electrification platform in Europe.
Meanwhile, the union representatives are currently negotiating the next ERO proposed by the company and which is proposed for a total of 1,144 employees. Today, Friday, the unions will meet again with the management of the company, to which they will ask that the employees aged 54 and 53 can take advantage of support plans towards retirement.
