Ford management has reached an agreement with car manufacturer Geely that will allow the Chinese giant to produce cars at its Valencia factory. The agreement reached between both companies will be blessed this Thursday at Ford’s Almussafes plant by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the Generalitat Valenciana, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, who already announced this Wednesday that it will be “great news” for workers currently on ERTE. One of the options would be their incorporation into Geely’s new production line due to Ford’s lack of workload.
While the details and scope of the agreement are unknown, sources familiar with the negotiations have indicated that Ford’s announcement will be precisely about this new alliance with Geely for its installation in Almussafes. Ford sources have merely stated that an “important corporate announcement” regarding its European operations will be made. The person in charge of making it will be Jim Baumbick himself, President of Ford Europe.
The oval multinational has been working for some time on this alliance with Geely to guarantee the future of the Almussafes factory, which has seen its workload reduced and whose workforce has faced several employment regulation files.
Almussafes, in fact, depends exclusively on the manufacture of the Kuga model, after the end of production of several models in recent years. In 2025, Ford Spain’s production activity in Almussafes reached 98,591 vehicles, representing a fall of 18.69% compared to 2024, when 121,250 units were manufactured. The figure, in any case, is far from the 420,000 vehicles manufactured in 2016. Added to this is the uncertainty generated by the delay of the new multi-energy vehicle from the Bronco family, which will not arrive until 2028.
Read more Trump approves a historic nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia in a major victory for the kingdom
Ford’s Valencian factory has in force until December 31 the latest extension of the RED mechanism enabled by the Government, an umbrella that covers the surplus staff of almost a thousand workers. Its objective, in fact, is to maintain employment at the factory until the arrival of new production.
In parallel, Ford management and unions are negotiating a new labor agreement for 2030 to update the current electrification agreement signed with UGT, the majority union, which for now has also not evaluated the agreement with Geely.
