BERLIN: Ford will increase production of its top-selling European car as well as other vehicles made in Germany to meet growing demand in some of the region's key markets, it said on Friday.
The U.S. carmaker will raise output of its Fiesta hatchback at Cologne, its main European plant, by 300 vehicles a day starting in February to 1,850.
Six extra shifts will be added at Cologne on weekends during the first two months of 2015 to underpin the move, Ford said.
Sales of Ford models in the European Union and the countries of the European Free Trade Area rebounded in December to grow 4.2 percent to 67,117 cars after plunging 5.5 percent in November, industry association ACEA said on Friday.
Ford will also increase production of the Focus, C-Max and Grand C-Max models assembled at a plant in Saarlouis by 240 vehicles per day from next week to 1,770, it said.
EU car sales may keep growing this year by as much as 5 percent after a 5.7 percent increase in 2014, Hanover-based NordLB analyst Frank Schwope said, citing demand from Germany, France and Italy.
Ford, which is incurring losses in Europe, cut production of the Fiesta at Cologne during the final quarter of 2014 when it applied for subsidies under the German government's "Kurzarbeit" short-work program, affecting about 4,000 of the plant's 17,300 employees.
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