Wanted by the former mayor of Bordeaux, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, inaugurated in 1973, saved from closure in 2010 and since faced recurring short-time working, the Ford-Blanquefort factory had its heyday in the early 2000s. Here is his story.
1970–2000: from installation to peak
The Blanquefort team is an example for the quality and efficiency of its work. (Alex Trotman, CEO of Ford)
In 1970, in search of a first establishment in France, the American firm Ford chose Blanquefort, on the territory of the Urban Community of Bordeaux, and began to equip the site. It was Jacques Chaban-Delmas, then Prime Minister and Mayor of Bordeaux, who obtained this installation, inaugurated on June 19, 1973 by Henry Ford II, president of the automotive group and grandson of its founder.
Photo credit: Archives Sud Ouest / Michel André
On April 6, 1984, Ford France decided to invest a billion francs in Blanquefort to manufacture a new automatic belt transmission. On June 26, 1998, the CEO of Ford, Alex Trotman, celebrated in Blanquefort the 25th anniversary of the Gironde establishment, where the American company will invest 1.5 billion francs for the manufacture of a new automatic transmission.
Photo credit: Archives Sud Ouest / Michel Lacroix
In 2000, Ford Aquitaine Industrie, at its peak, had 3,600 employees, with production that has broken all records since its creation. The two twin factories of Blanquefort equip with gearboxes one in five vehicles of the automobile manufacturer in the world. The rest will be less flourishing.
2007–2010: the failure of the takeover by the German group HZ Holding
Seven years later, at the end of 2007, when the workforce of the Blanquefort unit had already been downsized, Ford Motor Company announced that it would cease production of automatic transmissions for 4X4s in December 2011. An unprecedented mobilization. .
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