Ford has reportedly held talks with a host of Chinese automakers about producing their cars at various Blue Oval factories.
Citing multiple people, Reuters reports that Ford and Geely are deep in discussions about a wide-ranging partnership. The talks apparently started months ago regarding Geely using some of Ford’s spare production capacity at its European factories.
Although Ford has significantly scaled back its European manufacturing presence over the past decade, it still has facilities in Valencia, Spain and Cologne, Germany, as well as a joint-venture plant in Romania.
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If Geely decides to build cars at a European Ford factory, it would avoid tariffs of 10 per cent on all imported vehicles and punitive tariffs of up to 35 per cent placed on made-in-China EVs.
The talks have reportedly expanded to include sharing vehicle technology, including those related to autonomous driving.
Ford and Geely both have ongoing partnerships with other automakers. As part of Ford’s efforts with Volkswagen, the two have collaborated on the Ford Ranger/Volkswagen Amarok, Volkswagen Caddy/Ford Transit Connect, and the Ford Transit Custom/Volkswagen Transporter.
Ford also uses the Volkswagen MEB architecture for its Europe-only Explorer EV and Capri EV.
Interestingly, Ford recently inked a deal with Renault that will see the French firm produce electric Fiesta- and Puma-class cars for the Blue Oval starting in 2028.
Meanwhile, Renault has been working with Geely since 2021, with Renault South Korea now partially owned by Geely and building cars, including the latest Koleos and Filante, based on Geely platforms. Geely and Renault also have a joint-venture firm housing all of their combustion engine assets.
If a deal between Ford and Geely is reached, it wouldn’t be the first transaction between the two firms, as Geely bought Volvo Cars from Ford in 2010 for US$1.3 billion.
Geely declined to comment on the report, while Ford told the news service: “We have discussions with lots of companies all the time on a variety of topics. Sometimes they materialise, sometimes they don’t.”
Sources have told the Financial Times that Ford has also had preliminary discussions with Xiaomi about producing its EVs in the US. The business newspaper understands Ford has spoken with BYD and other unnamed Chinese automakers about working together on US production.
Both Ford and Xiaomi strenuously denied the report, with Ford telling the newspaper: “This story is completely false”.
Xiaomi was similarly forthright, stating: “Reports that Xiaomi is discussing a joint venture with Ford Motor Co are false. Xiaomi does not sell its products and services in the United States and is not negotiating to do so.”
Since the Biden administration, the US has a 100 per cent tariff on all Chinese-made EVs, effectively barring all imports except for megabucks models like the Lotus Eletre.
Producing EVs in the US would skirt this issue, but could come with significant push back from politicians.
Previously Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, has spoken in glowing terms about the Xiaomi SU7 he drove for six months as an evaluation vehicle.
He has also stated the Chinese government’s strategy is to “dominate the [automotive] industry globally by moving to EV and intelligent vehicles before everyone else”, while admitting Ford is open to entering into “partnerships for IP”.
Ford already has two long-running relationships with Chinese automakers – Changan and JMC – both of which are its production partners in the Middle Kingdom.
Some of the cars produced by these joint ventures are sold in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, including the Mondeo/Taurus, Territory, and Edge.