Ford’s CEO says it is too late for Europe to fend off Chinese carmakers

Ford chief executive Jim Farley said it is too late for Europe to fend off Chinese carmakers and that the United States should take its time deciding. Ford’s own answer in Europe is a Valencia joint venture in which Geely holds 34% and will build two of the four electric models from 2028.

Ford’s chief executive says Europe has already lost to Chinese carmakers. Jim Farley told a Detroit conference it is too late for the continent and that America should take its time. Ford’s own European plan is a joint venture with a Chinese carmaker.

“I watch what’s happening in Europe right now, where that was not the case, and it’s really something that they have to deal with now, and it’s too late,” Farley said at the Automotive News Congress, as CNBC reported.

Chinese brands took 12% of the whole European car market in August, against virtually nothing in 2020, according to Dataforce. We reported the same firm’s April figures at about 10% of all cars and more than 15% of electric ones. Their global share rose nearly 70% between 2020 and 2025, on GlobalData’s figures.

His remedy for Europe is not resistance. Ford would partner with Chinese companies where it lacks the intellectual property and can be more capital efficient, naming Europe and Southeast Asia.

It already has. Ford owns 66% of a Valencia joint venture, with Geely on 34%, building four electric models from 2028, two of them Geely SUVs.

Operations begin in the first half of 2027. Alex Nan, a Geely vice president, called it building cars in Europe, for Europe, with a trusted partner.

Washington objected. Sean Duffy, the transport secretary, told Ford to cut its Chinese ties last month, naming Valencia. Ford called that a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines.

Brussels takes the opposite view. Its draft Industrial Accelerator Act would require Chinese investors in strategic sectors to work through EU joint ventures capped at 49%, with technology transfer.

Ford’s Valencia structure sits inside that cap. Farley told employees in August that Chinese EVs could reach America in five to ten years, a different message from taking time.

He insists Ford will also compete, with a universal electric vehicle due next year as a pickup.

Geely is not building new factories to reach Europe. It said in June it would close or sell redundant plants and use existing ones, with overseas sales up 158% in the first five months.

Farley put Chinese market share in Mexico at 25%. That figure is his own, and we have not seen it published.

Europe is the market Farley says is lost, and the one where Ford has taken a Chinese partner. Both can be true. Only one is a plan.