The Ford Focus factory in Saarlouis, Germany, will remain open until at least 2032 if it hasn't been sold by the time the popular model bows out in 2025.
The news comes following a lengthy period of uncertainty for the Saarland site after Ford announced it would retire the Focus in 2025 in line with a shift in focus to EVs.
Making that announcement last June, then Ford of Europe boss Stuart Rowley said: "We don't have in our planning cycle an additional model that goes into Saarlouis," suggesting that selling the facility to another company was a possibility.