Ford and Geely to build cars together in Valencia

The Ford-Geely joint venture puts a Chinese and an American automaker’s names on the same factory floor for the first time in Europe

(Image courtesy of Ford)

Ford and Geely will build a joint venture at Ford’s Valencia plant, with Ford holding 66 percent and Geely 34 percent. Pending regulatory approval, operations are expected to begin in the first half of 2027, with the first vehicles rolling off the line in 2028. Ford will keep building the Kuga plug-in hybrid at Valencia throughout the transition.

The Valencia plant has run since 1976, when it built the original front-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta. Ford’s own release puts the site’s capacity at approximately 500,000 vehicles annually, while AP reporting puts 2025 output below 100,000 units. That gap points to the commercial logic of pooling two brands’ volume onto one line.

Ford and Geely to share production in Valencia from 2028

The joint venture will build four new models in total. Ford plans a compact Bronco derivative and a multi-energy crossover designed by Ford and co-developed with Geely, part of a wider push to bring five new multi-energy vehicles to Europe by 2029. Geely will contribute two battery-electric SUVs, its first models built at a European plant under this structure.

Neither company has disclosed which platform or powertrain the crossover will use. Ford and Geely have also said they will collaborate on development, engineering and manufacturing beyond simply sharing factory space, but electrive reports the companies have not disclosed how far that technology transfer will extend. Output volumes for the new models remain unannounced as well.

The regulatory case for a European joint venture

The European Union imposed a definitive countervailing duty of 18.8 percent on Geely-made electric vehicles in October 2024, one of several manufacturer-specific rates set after a Commission anti-subsidy investigation, with some Chinese producers facing duties as high as 35.3 percent. Building in Valencia lets Geely pursue homologation through an established manufacturing partner while avoiding that tariff exposure entirely on vehicles built there for the European market.

Ford and Geely are not the only pairing pursuing this route. Leapmotor is producing vehicles through a Stellantis factory in Spain, while Guangzhou Automobile Group and XPeng are working with Magna International in Austria. Chery has already revived a former Nissan plant in Barcelona alongside Spanish brand Ebro. The Valencia deal fits a broader pattern of Chinese automakers localising European production to manage cost, tariffs and market access together.

The capacity problem Ford is solving

Ford’s European sales have fallen from more than a million vehicles a decade ago to under half a million last year. AutoForecast Solutions vice president Sam Fiorani said the partnership lets Ford design vehicles for the European market without carrying the full development cost of a new platform alone. He added that Ford should use the collaboration to learn how Geely engineers lower-priced vehicles.

The agreement still needs regulatory clearance before operations start in 2027, and both companies have left the crossover’s platform, powertrain and the depth of their engineering collaboration undisclosed. Those two gaps, more than the 66/34 ownership split, will determine how far this partnership actually reaches. Neither will be resolved before the first vehicles reach the line in 2028.

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