Earlier this week, Ford moved to deny a report by the Financial Times which claimed insiders had linked the brand to China’s Xiaomi, with an aim to help produce the latter’s vehicle in the US.
Just a few days later, Reuters now reports it has been told by insiders that Ford is discussing allowing Geely to use its spare production capacity at its car factory in Valencia in Spain.
This would allow Geely to build vehicles in Europe, effectively side-stepping tariffs on Chinese EVs introduced by the region. Currently Geely’s EVs are hit with an 18.8 per cent tariff on top of the base 10 per cent tariff.
According to the Reuters report, Ford and Geely have discussed sharing vehicle technologies together, however the partnership would centre around Geely using the Spanish factory for vehicle production.
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At present, only the Ford Kuga is built at the factory, though it’s been widely reported it’ll be joined in 2027 by a European market version of the Bronco SUV, with the two vehicles understood to be mechanically related.
With the plant reportedly having a planned annual capacity of 400,000 vehicles but currently producing about 100,000, adding more lines would help it to become a more cost-effective exercise.
The publication also added that Ford and Geely already have a mutual partnership with Renault. Geely has assisted Renault with certain models sold outside Europe, while Ford signed an agreement to use the French brand’s EV platforms on the continent in the near future.
Ford’s potential move to partner with Geely is unsurprising, given CEO Jim Farley has previously sung the praises of China’s car industry, while also warning about the threat it poses.
“They have enough capacity in China with existing factories to serve the entire North American market, put us all out of business,” Farley told CBS Sunday Morning.
“Japan never had that. So, this is a completely different level of risk for our industry.”
Farley, who has served as Ford CEO for the past five years, has previously praised some of China’s carmakers.
“I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive the Xiaomi [SU7],” Farley said on the Fully Charged podcast in 2024.
“We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago, and I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up.
“For a company like Ford, [the rise of China’s auto industry] has been something we’ve been watching for a while, but I’ve had two trips to China the last two years that were literally epiphanies.”
It’s also the second time in the past week that a Chinese brand has been linked to a Western carmaker to help build its cars, following another Financial Times report which claimed Chery is looking to produce vehicles in the UK at factories owned by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
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