Demand for the Ford Fiesta in Europe has slowed in the forth quarter causing the auto giant to make the decision to cut production of its subcompact car at the company’s manufacturing hub in Cologne, Germany. Production will pause for eleven days in October and November, the Fiesta is the second best selling car in Europe, behind the VW Golf and accounted for 190,816 sales during the first six months of the financial year, up from 175,433. The production halt will affect 4,000 workers at the Cologne plant which employs around 17,000 people. Ford will effectively reduce the affected workers hours with the state subsidizing Ford employees under the governments short-work program. The short-work program was used during the sovereign debt crisis of 2008-2009, the scheme helped preserve a core workforce without the need to cut jobs, an expensive process to undertake. Fords total European sales rose by 15 percent during August to just over 48,000 vehicles against a backdrop of declining demand across the region by 2 percent.