Ford will use Renault's technology and factories to produce cheaper European electric vehicles to counter Chinese competitors.
Renault and Ford will jointly develop low-cost small electric vehicles for Europe and produce new commercial vans to cut costs and counter increased competition from China, Reuters reports.
Ford CEO Jim Farley, calling the transition to electric vehicles "a fight for our lives," said that the first jointly developed small electric car, built at Renault's plant in northern France, will appear in 2028, filling a key gap in Ford's European lineup with models smaller than those planned for the U.
S. market The partnership will also create a major light commercial vehicle (LCV) manufacturing alliance, which both companies believe will strengthen their ability to withstand future competition from Chinese brands. The collaboration, which began after Renault CEO Francois Provo's visit to Ford headquarters in Detroit in March, is not a merger and will complement Ford's existing collaboration with Volkswagen in the field of electric vehicles and vans.
Ford, whose share of the European market has plummeted, hopes Renault's electric vehicle platforms will help it compete more effectively in the face of uncertain U.
S. policy and the high cost of parallel investments in models with internal combustion engines and electric vehicles. For Renault, the smallest European automaker that is not represented in either China or the United States, this deal helps to increase the scale and workload of factories. The company is actively building global partnerships, striving to prove that Europe can produce electric vehicles as competitive as China.