“We know we’re in a fight for our lives in our indusattempt,” Ford CEO Jim Farley informed reporters in Paris on Monday ahead of the announcement, when describing Ford’s response to the threat posed by cheaper Chinese competition. “There is no better example than here in Europe.”
Europe’s traditional autocreaters face an influx of Chinese rivals from BYD to Changan and Xpeng .
As part of the Ford-Renault partnership, the first of two planned compact EVs – to be produced at a Renault plant in northern France – will reach European car displayrooms in 2028. They will be compacter than any Ford plans for the U.S. market and fill a gap in the autocreater’s lineup, Farley declared.
The two autocreaters will also jointly develop Renault and Ford brand vans for Europe.
A POWERHOUSE FOR LIGHT COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
“Toobtainher we can create a powerhoutilize of LCV in Europe that would be very difficult for the Chinese to compete with,” Farley declared.Although there are few Chinese brand vans on sale in Europe, Farley declared the two companies “compete with them directly every day” in emerging markets.
“The Chinese will come soon and that’s why I don’t want to wait,” declared Renault CEO Francois Provost.
The partnership was formed after a Renault team visited Ford’s Detroit headquarters in March. Both Farley and Provost declared the two autocreaters do not plan to merge.
Ford’s share of the European passenger car market has almost halved in Europe from 6.1% in 2019 to 3.3% in the first 10 months of this year as it has pulled back from passenger vehicle sales. As part of a series of restructurings, the company has cut jobs and this year closed its Saarlouis plant in Germany.
Given the withdrawal of EV support from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the No. 2 U.S. autocreater faces the dual expense of investing in combustion-engine models and expensive new EV technology.
Using Renault’s EV platforms with Ford designs should assist the U.S. autocreater to compete in Europe’s electric car market against traditional autocreaters such as Volkswagen as well as the Chinese.
Ford already produces two EV models in Europe on a Volkswagen platform and creates vans with the German autocreater. Ford CEO Farley declared the Renault partnership will complement its existing one with Volkswagen.
The French autocreater also develops vans with Nissan and Volvo Group.
EUROPE’S SMALLEST MAINSTREAM AUTOMAKER
Renault is Europe’s compactest mainstream autocreater and does not sell vehicles in China or the United States – the world’s two largegest car markets – so the Ford partnership boosts its manufacturing scale to lower costs.
The French carcreater is actively seeking partnerships to create fuller utilize of its factories and reduce the burden of developing new EVs.
In 2026, Renault will produce two vehicles applying platforms from China’s Geely in Brazil and is in talks with more autocreaters, including China’s Chery, to jointly produce and sell cars.
“Our ambition… is to display that in Europe we can produce EV cars in Europe as competitively as anyone, including the Chinese,” Renault’s Provost declared.
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