Ford Looks To Partner With One Of China's Biggest Automakers

Per a Reuters report, Ford is in talks with China's Geely over a possible partnership. The report claims eight separate sources verified the ongoing talks, which are reportedly held over decreasing costs, especially manufacturing and technology costs.

Geely eyes Ford's European operations

Geely and Ford are discussing the use of Ford's factory spaces in Europe, likely Valencia, Spain, where Geely would potentially produce European market vehicles. Moreover, the two brands have discussed a potential framework for sharing vehicle tech, which is said to include automated driving features. Should that be true, these aspects of the deal in particular could have effects on broader parts of Ford's business, including its position in the US.

Ford currently has BlueCruise, its own hands-free driving assistance technology, in a handful of models across its lineup. However, the technology is expensive both for consumers to purchase and for Ford to further develop. Help from Geely, a brand Ford's CEO has said has a technological edge, could extend to BlueCruise improvements down the line.

Meanwhile, talks on the use of Ford's European real estate are further along. The automaker sent representatives to China this week to hold further talks following meetings in Michigan between "senior Geely executives and Ford leaders," according to the Reuters report. Talks have spanned months, but it's not clear if anything will come of the situation. Geely did not provide a comment to the outlet, but Ford told Reuters that it had "discussions with lots of companies all the time on a variety of topics. Sometimes they materialize, sometimes they don't."

Ford recognized Geely's advanced tech

A potential partnership holds much change for Ford, both at home in the US and abroad. Traditionally, Chinese automakers have been barred from the US only by regulatory hurdles, with the previous Biden administration policy focused on tariffs to counter what it believed to be "national security risks from data collection and vehicle software."

However, Ford sees Geely as a technological powerhouse, and one it may be able to leverage. At the Aspen Ideas Festival last year, Ford CEO Jim Farley said Chinese EVs and the tech they employ are "the most humbling thing I have ever seen." Ford's CEO seemed confident that President Trump would not veto a deal with Chinese automakers, saying at the time he didn't think the President would intervene in any potential deals: "I don’t think so. "I think as long as it has the right guardrails and we think about it the right way, no, I’ve found openness throughout the government to do this, because I think they know it’s required."

Automakers have increasingly used technological partnerships and badge engineering - selling another automaker's vehicles as your own and sharing costs - to offset rising prices.