Geely has announced plans to build two European-focused electrified SUV models in Ford’s plant in Valencia, Spain.
The new agreement between the two brands brings benefits to both sides, allowing Geely to accelerate its growth plan in Europe and escape costly EU tariffs on Chinese-built EVs, while improving the economies of scale for Ford’s production in the region.
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The first of the new Geely models, which will be sleek electric SUVs, will roll off the production line in 2028. Few specifics are known about the pair, but given their optimisation for Europe and the UK, we suspect they’ll be new vehicles rather than models plucked from its existing range.
Geely’s current line-up in the UK is limited to the Chinese-built EX2 and EX5 BEVs, plus the Starray EM-i plug-in hybrid.
Geely’s operation in Valencia won’t be designed to act as a satellite manufacturing location for the Chinese giant; instead the Chinese giant intends to fully integrate itself and take advantage of the experience that already exists there.
Speaking with Auto Express, executive vice president of Geely Holding Group Victor Yang said: “We [will] rely on the expertise and the workforce here in Valencia.
“Of course, we will have to contribute to build up the ecosystem on the supply chain side, [and] benefit from joint sourcing from both sides so that all scale, both from China and Europe, can contribute to the cost competitiveness of the products and the operation of this facility of cost.”
In fact, Geely hopes a large proportion of its European sales can be serviced by these two new models, with Yang also telling us: “The long term target is to locally assemble somewhere between a third to a half of the sales here in Europe. That’s why we joined with Ford Valencia to have a strong, foundation and [a] good start [to] reach it.”
This isn’t the first time Geely has paired up with a European manufacturer, as it is also the parent company of Volvo, having purchased it from Ford back in 2010. This headstart in understanding the political and regulatory side of building cars in Europe should make its integration simpler than it otherwise might be for a Chinese brand with existing connections to Europe.
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