America's Ford and China's Geely do major deal to build cars in Spain

Ford’s European product offensive – five new cars by 2029 – will be underpinned by a huge investment in its Spanish plant, thanks to a new joint venture with Chinese auto maker Geely. 

The future of the Valencia factory – which has a 500,000 annual capacity but currently only assembles the Kuga SUV – has been in doubt. But today Ford and Geely confirmed the manufacturing collaboration to assemble four new cars: the upcoming Ford Bronco compact SUV and an “all-new, multi-energy crossover” for the Blue Oval.

This is likely to continue the Kuga name, with the current car soldiering on until the new crossover is ready by late 2028. The family crossover will share components with two Geely electric SUVs, which the plant will also assemble.

The alliance with Geely is the second Ford has announced in Europe in the past eight months. The first is with Renault, which is supplying the Renault 5’s RGEV Small electric car platform and manufacturing capability to be used on replacements for the Fiesta and Puma. 

Ford has lost around 500,000 sales in Europe, but rather than retreat from the market, its strategy is to collaborate with new partners to renew its vehicle line-up, tap into their supply chains and bring down the unit cost of cars to remain competitive in the face of – ironically – low-cost Chinese new entrants. 

“We are not selling individual assets,” Ford of Europe president Jim Baumbick told media including Auto Express. “What we’re doing is jointly investing in the vehicle manufacturing capability here in Valencia, that’s the purpose of the joint venture. It is one system and one team [supplying] two brands. It is five vehicles, and the only way to make this site world-class efficient is to do that as one team.”          

Ford opened its Valencia plant in 1976 to build the original Fiesta. The joint venture gives a stronger future for the circa 4,000 employees there – and Baumbick stressed that the alliance will allow the workforce to grow to cover four vehicles. It will be owned 66:34 Ford:Geely. 

The two auto makers have a long-established relationship and a shared culture, according to Baumbick, with links dating back to Ford’s sale of Volvo to the huge Chinese group back in 2010.

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