Geely Will Start Building Cars At A Ford Plant In Spain

Following several months of talks, it’s been revealed that Geely has reached an agreement with Ford to build vehicles at an assembly line currently sitting idle at Ford’s factory near Valencia, Spain. The deal will allow Geely to build and produce cars locally, skirting tariffs designed to hinder the European expansion of Chinese car companies.

Ford’s Almussafes plant has an annual capacity of 450,000 vehicles but has been running at less than a quarter of that for several years. It currently handles production of the Kuga, but soon, it will be joined by a Geely. The company has yet to confirm which model it’ll build in Spain, but reports indicate it’ll be the new EX2, an affordable electric hatchback which was the best-selling new car in China last year.

Read: Geely’s New Sedan Claims 450 Miles From A Battery Most EVs Would Call Small

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has played an important role in getting the deal done. As Spain does not have a significant homegrown car industry like Germany or Italy, it’s been welcoming companies from China with open arms.

The Chinese Are Coming To Spain

As noted by Bloomberg, Chery is already working alongside Spanish company Ebro and has revived a factory in Barcelona that was once home to Nissan. In addition, BAIC is joining with local firm Santana to build several off-road cars in Andalusia. Stellantis will also establish a battery factory with Chinese conglomerate CATL in Zaragoza.

Additional details about the deal are expected to be announced by Spain’s prime minister later this week, when he is expected to speak with the media at Ford’s factory. As recently as May, it was reported that, through the deal, Ford may be able to build an EV of its own using the same architecture as the EX2, although this has yet to be confirmed.

Geely EX2