Ford

The industrial future is more like Terminator than Ford

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“Hunter-Killers. Patrol machines. Built in automated factories.” The phrase is pronounced Kyle Reese in ‘Terminator‘, when trying to explain a future dominated by Skynet and its war machines. Forty years later, we are not in that science fiction nightmare, but the connection is too powerful to ignore: China is manufacturing structural components for stealth fighters in a highly automated plant, with almost no humans on the line and with machinery capable of working for much of the day. Turn off the light. The news comes through Science and Technology Daily. According to that source, the factory has more than doubled efficiency in the production of structural components for Chinese stealth fighters, including the J-20. The process, which previously required employees monitoring operations around the clock, now relies on autonomous vehicles, automated machinery guided by AI and systems capable of sustaining activity for almost 24 hours. Of course: we are not talking about complete planes leaving a ship alone, but rather about the manufacturing of the “skeleton” of the aircraft under conditions of very reduced human intervention. What is a dark factory. We are talking about facilities designed to operate with very little human presence, to the point that lighting is no longer a necessary condition for production. Siemens describes these plants as facilities with minimal human activity, capable of operating in the dark. We can see this idea applied to a variety of sectors: steel, mobile phones, domestic engines, and rocket ignition device parts. A complex product. The plant combines autonomous material transportation, high-precision machining, intelligent scanning and robotic inspection. Previously, however, it took two or three employees per shift to keep the machinery running all day, but now the human labor hours needed to operate the plant have been reduced by more than 80%. A factory that learns to speak. The leap did not depend solely on installing more robots. As Song Ge, head of digital manufacturing, explained to Science and Technology Daily, the dozens of machines in the plant used different protocols and software languages, a fragmentation that made it difficult to unify the line and control it as a system. The solution was to ensure that the equipment could communicate, be controlled remotely and coordinated within the same production flow. The plane behind the factory. The J-20 occupies a central place in Chinese air modernization. The Chinese Ministry of Defense confirmed in 2018 its entry into combat service and presented it as a fighter with the capacity to contest air superiority, carry out precision attacks against land and maritime targets, electronic interference and tactical command. An old dream with new machinery. The idea of ​​manufacturing almost without humans was not born with China or with the J-20. CNN recalled in 2003 That dream already came from the eighties, when General Motors imagined robots so reliable that they could assemble transmissions in the dark. That collided with a much clumsier reality: the machines did not work well even with the lights on. Today the map is broader: FANUC has operated a dark factory in Japan since 2001, Makuta Micro Molding applies that model in the United States to microinjection molding and Philips has produced electric clippers in the Netherlands with a highly automated unit supported by hundreds of robots. Looking to the future. The industrial future does not have to look like Skynet, but it does point to factories where human presence weighs less in certain production phases. And when that happens, keeping the lights on throughout the entire operation stops being a productive necessity and becomes dependent on when people enter the plant. Images | Chinese Ministry of Defense In Xataka | Airbus had a single center in the world to convert commercial aircraft into military tankers. Now another one will open in Seville

On its way to increasing military production, Spain already has two new candidates: Seat and Ford

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Europe rearms. The war in Ukraine and the constant pressure from the United States Government for European countries to increase their defense spending has driven a rearmament that crosses Europe and has raised blisters among the nations that invest the least in defense. One of them is Spain. But Spain, like many other European countries, is already looking for spaces to increase its weapons production. And he has an idea: car factories. What has happened? Spain is already considering using car factories to promote its military modernization programs. That’s what it says Expansiona medium that points to internal Defense sources as the voices that advance the conversations that the Government would have had with companies such as Ford and Seat. According to this medium, the conversations are part of the implementation of “the budgets and sizing of the new military modernization programs (PEM) that are going to be launched.” The objective is to define the budget to be used and where it could go, with the intention of presenting them around summer and assigning them at the end of the year. Seat and Ford? That Seat and Ford are the first to be mentioned makes a lot of sense. With its conversion towards the electric carMartorell planned to reduce staff and resize its facilities. In 2022 they estimated a surplus of almost 2,000 direct jobs and with a commitment to new technology, the El Prat plant focused on gearboxes is one of the most notable. For its part, Ford seems to be looking for a new future to its Almussafes plant or, at least, part of it. The company has significantly reduced its production and, although it has confirmed the assembly of a new modeleverything indicates that Ford does not fully trust the plant. In fact, the latest rumors suggested that The Chinese company Geely wanted to take over part of the facilities. With a view to Defense. Although there is now open talk of converting part of the plants of these two companies into spaces to produce military material, the truth is that this idea has been floating around Seat for a few weeks. Last March it already emerged that Seat negotiated with Indra to manufacture light military vehicles. The agreement, they assured in Five Dayswould have the approval of the Government, which already stated last year that the reconversion of the automobile industrial sector could involve, at least in part, supporting Defense. It also coincides with the increase in Indra’s investments in the military field. Not only in Spain. Reconditioning automobile facilities to produce war material is not an idea that was born in Spain, far from it. In Germany, there have been negotiations that one of the Volkswagen plants begins to manufacture tanks. Last year there was also talk of Renault’s turnaround, pioneer in tank productionto manufacture drones bound for Ukraine. And not just vehicles. Last March there was already talk of the possibility that Volkswagen will start producing parts for missiles at its Osnabrück plant, according to Financial Times. The intention is that trucks would leave their facilities to transport them but also basic equipment such as shuttles or electrical generators to activate them. A key moment. If governments are looking with eager eyes at European automobile plants, it is because they know that the industry is not going through its best moment. The conversion to electric cars points to massive layoffsespecially because they lack a good part of the mechanical components that are present in any combustion car. Furthermore, its simplification points to shorter assembly times, a greater presence of robots and less human capital. These massive layoffs could be saved, at least in part, with the reconversion of these plants. It must be taken into account that manufacturing in Europe is more expensive than doing so in Asia or countries with preferential trade agreements with Europe such as Morocco either Türkiye. This is moving part of European production to these countries. Especially the smaller ones that are more complicated to make profitable. Spain is of the countries that are suffering the least from the blow because, at the level of salaries and energy costs, we are more competitive than plants from Germany or France. However, both Volkswagen with Seat and Ford, Stellantis either mercedes They have dropped that they are willing to reduce their workforce and production in our country. Photo | Caesar and seat In Xataka | Ford invested 1 billion to produce electric cars in Europe. Now it will invest money in laying off 1,000 employees

For the CEO of Ford, the reference for the electric car is no longer Tesla, it is China

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The head of Ford has been studying Chinese manufacturers in depth for months and is clear about one thing: that to understand where the electric car is going, we must pay close attention to China. For some years now the country is leading a historic transition in the automobile, and the perfect proof of this reality is the fixation that brands as historic as Ford have with the Chinese electric car. And for Jim Farley, CEO of the company, Tesla is no longer the benchmark. China, not Tesla. The automobile industry has been at a crossroads for some time. Electric sales are not growing at the expected rate in the West, large manufacturers have had to rethink their strategies and convert their factories (energy storage for data centers), and in the United States the elimination of federal tax incentive It has made the purchase of a new electric car even more expensive. In this context, Ford CEO Jim Farley explained in the Rapid Response podcast that Tesla is no longer the benchmark, and that it is now China. Change of sight. In the interview, Farley explained why he has been testing a Xiaomi SU7 instead of an American vehicle. “If you’re an American and you want us to beat the Chinese in the car business, you’re going to want to pay attention, not necessarily to Tesla. Nothing against Tesla, they’re doing well, but they don’t really have an up-to-date vehicle,” he said. And his reference for Ford is not Elon Musk, but BYD: “The best thing in the business for us in cost, supply chain, manufacturing experience and innovation is BYD,” Farley said. in the same podcast. Concerning. BYD was born in 1995 as a battery manufacturer and today is the largest electric car manufacturer in the world by volume. having surpassed Tesla in global sales in 2025. In 2022 it was the first manufacturer to completely abandon pure gasoline cars. For Farley, what is relevant is not the market capitalization of each company, but rather who is defining what the consumer will want to buy in the next decade. TOGod to the expensive electric ones. Ford has learned its lesson through million-dollar losses. The company became the second brand that sold the most electric cars in the US after Tesla, but its models were, according to Farley himself, “designed in the wrong way.” In December 2025, Ford took over a $19.5 billion correction having to reformulate its entire electric strategy. He F-150 Lightningwhich was presented as the flagship of its electrical commitment, is converted into an EREV vehicle (with a small combustion engine that acts as a generator) because, as admitted Farley himself in December, “the $70,000 electric cars were not selling.” The new roadmap involves launching an electric pickup at $30,000 before 2027. The key is in the second-hand market. Farley has an unconventional way of reading the market. And it is that prefer look at the sales of used cars before those of new ones, because “the second-hand market is twice that of new ones, and since they are all sold at lower prices, they are a better predictor of consumer behavior.” And of course, in this market, affordable electric and hybrid vehicles are the ones that move the most compared to those in the premium segment. China is not just price. Farley recognize that each Chinese car incorporates about 4,000 or 5,000 dollars in government subsidies, direct and indirect. He is also aware that these vehicles incorporate up to ten cameras and advanced connectivity systems that, in his opinion, “should be reviewed by the US Department of Defense for reasons of national security.” However, Farley concludes that the correct response is not to ignore them, but to learn from them. “That is the gift that China has given us: that we are respectful enough of its progress not to settle for business as usual,” he said in the interview. Cover image | Hans and Rapid Response In Xataka | The longest straight road in the world is a mental challenge: 240 km without curves, in the middle of the desert and with truck traffic

Ford has been slow to adapt to the electric car, so it is going to start manufacturing batteries for… data centers

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Ford has decided to convert its electric vehicle battery manufacturing capacity into a large-scale energy storage business. The move has its own name: Ford Energy, a new division with $2 billion in investment planned for the next two years and the stated objective of supplying batteries to data centers, electricity companies and large industrial consumers. Because now. The starting point is not exactly ideal for the company. Ford’s electric division accumulated net losses of 11.1 billion dollars only in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Reuters. For this year, the company expects to continue losing between 4,000 and 4,500 million additional dollars in its electrical and software division. “I think the customer has already spoken,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told investors. With battery factories operating at low capacity and the electric vehicle market in the United States in free fall, especially after the elimination of the $7,500 aid last September, Ford has chosen not to dismantle that infrastructure, but to redirect it. What is Ford Energy and how it will work. The bet is articulated around the Glendale, Kentucky, plant, which will be converted to manufacture energy storage systems at network scale. According to counted Ford late last year, the facility will produce LFP (lithium ferrophosphate) cells and storage modules. The cell technology used is licensed by the Chinese firm CATL, with whom Ford already had agreements on its line of electric vehicles. The plan, according to the company itself, is to have initial operational capacity within 18 months and reach at least 20 GWh of annual production by the end of 2027. In parallel, the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan plant, in Marshall, will continue with its production of LFP cells for Ford’s upcoming midsize electric truck, but will also make lower amperage cells aimed at residential storage. Lisa Drake, the board of directors who heads Ford Energy, explained that the “predominant” business opportunity will be in commercial electric grid customers, with data centers as the second priority and the residential segment as the third leg. Drake also noted that when going out to market to explore demand, it became clear that the technology preferred by customers was precisely the containerized prismatic LFP system, something that Ford could easily manufacture thanks to its licenses. For his part, John Lawler, vice president of Ford, counted In the statement, Ford Energy’s core purpose is to “capture the growing demand for reliable energy storage that reinforces the stability and resilience of the electric grid for utilities and large consumers.” The market you want to conquer. The explosion of artificial intelligence electricity consumption in data centers is skyrocketing on a global scale. The International Energy Agency places the demand for these centers around 945 TWh by 2030approximately 3% of global electricity consumption, with a projected growth of 15% annually. In the United States alone, according to the Battery Council International, this consumption could double to between 400 and 600 TWh on the same date. In that scenario, large-scale energy storage becomes critical infrastructure and Ford, like many other converted manufacturersthey see a great business opportunity. Ford is late, but he is not alone. The problem is that Tesla has a decade of advantage. Its energy storage business deployed 46.7 GWh in 2025 alone, 48% more than the previous year according to TechCrunchand was also more profitable than its own electric car division, with gross margins close to 30% compared to 15% for the automobile. General Motors has also made a move: its joint venture with LG Energy Solution has just invested $70 million to convert its Tennessee plant, south of Nashville, into the production of batteries for storage. The transition, however, is neither easy nor cheap. Switching a factory from nickel chemistry, common in electric car batteries, to LFP can take up to 18 months and cost several hundred million dollars, according to share from Reuters. Added to this is technological dependence on China, which dominates the LFP supply chain, and 35% US tariffs on cathode and anode materials of Chinese origin. What this means in the long term. Just like they count From the middle, although the demand for energy storage in North America is expected to almost double in five years, going from 76 to 125 GWh, that is not enough to absorb the more than 275 GWh of productive capacity that the automobile industry has installed with electric in mind. Storage alleviates the problem, but does not completely solve it. Even so, this same reorientation is what many other car manufacturers have opted for in order to take advantage of their infrastructure and contain losses due to their electric cars, especially in the United States, which is where things are much weaker. Cover image | Hans and ford In Xataka | Australia has a straight highway of 150 kilometers. And to prevent you from falling asleep he has put hobbies on the posters

that in addition to cars, Ford and Cadillac manufacture missiles

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In 1942, the Willow Run Factory in Michigan, operated by Ford Motor Company, managed to assemble a B-24 bomber every 63 minutes, something unthinkable for an industry that until recently produced cars in series. That feat turned a civilian assembly line on a capable machine to sustain a war on a global scale. Now the drums of war are beating again in car factories around the planet. An economy that returns to war mode. The United States is beginning to recover an industrial logic that seemed buried since the mid-20th century: converting its civilian muscle into a direct extension of the military effort. He had exclusive the wall street journal that there are already Pentagon conversations with giants such as Ford Motor Company and General Motors that reflect more than just an increase in production, pointing to a transformation of the role of the industry in a context where conflicts in Ukraine and Iran are draining arsenals at an unexpected rate. The underlying idea is simple but powerful, and already we had seen in Germany in recent months: if wars consume faster than the traditional military industry can replenish, the board must be expanded and civilian manufacturers brought back. From cars to missiles. The Pentagon is not only looking for specific contracts, but the ability to redirect factories, engineers and logistics chains towards the production of ammunition, anti-drone systems or tactical vehicles. This movement implies that companies used to manufacturing cars or heavy machinery can become direct support of the war effort, something that breaks with decades of specialization in a handful of defense contractors. In practice, it is a recognition that modern warfare (especially that based on drones and high-consumption ammunition) requires industrial volumes that are more reminiscent of a war economy than the limited conflicts of recent decades. The precedent. The historical reference is inevitable: during World War II, the Detroit automobile factories stopped producing cars to make bombersaircraft engines and large-scale military vehicles. That total conversion transformed American industry in a war machine capable of supporting multiple fronts simultaneously. Today, although the context is different, the logic underlying current conversations is the same: take advantage of the scale, efficiency and flexibility of civilian industry to cover military needs that exceed the capacity of the specialized sector. Korea, Vietnam and the law that made it possible. After the Second World War, Washington did not completely abandon this capacity for industrial mobilization, but rather institutionalized it with the Defense Production Law 1950, a legal framework that allows the government to prioritize and direct production toward military needs. During the Korean War, companies such as Ford Motor Company created specific divisions for defense contracts, while General Motors and other companies adapted their lines to manufacture military vehicles, engines and supplies. This model was activated again in later conflicts such as Vietnam, although in a more partial way, consolidating a tool that allows the civil industry to be reactivated in moments of strategic pressure without reaching the total mobilization of the 1940s. A system that falls short. The background of this turn is an uncomfortable reality that could already be find in Iran: the US defense industrial base, as designed today, it’s not enough to sustain prolonged, high-intensity wars while supplying allies. The massive transfer of weapons to Ukraine since 2022 and the additional wear and tear derived from the conflict with Iran have highlighted this limitation. For this reason, the Pentagon proposes expand production beyond the usual contractors, directly asking large manufacturers what capacity they can contribute and what obstacles they encounter in integrating into that effort. The return to a logic of total war. If you like, without explicitly declaring it, Washington is recovering an idea that seemed typical of another era: that, at certain moments, the entire economy can become part of the front. From that perspective, it is not yet a total conversion as in the Second World War, but it is a change of mentality that brings civil industry to military effort much more directly. In that sense, current wars are not only redefining the battlefield, but also the role of factories, which are once again placed at the center of strategy as if history were slowly turning backwards. First it was Volkswagen in Germanyand now it’s your turn to Cadillac in the United States. Image | Picryl, Dave Parker In Xataka | Not only has the US just lost the “eye” that Hormuz watched, its nuclear aircraft carrier is in Africa for fear of being shot down In Xataka | The US did not make ends meet in Iran by launching thousands of missiles a month. So let’s move on to plan B: humans.

An alliance between Ford and Geely sounds like melodic music for Almussafes. The reality is much more complex

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Ford is looking for a Chinese car. Reason: here. This is the sign that could hang on the door of the Ford factory in Almussafes (Valencia). The American company is looking for partners in China to produce electric cars and Geely seems to be one of the best positioned brands. Nor is it the first that has raised rumors about possible collaborations with the American brand, which, in addition, is already linked to Volkswagen or Renault. But what does Almussafes have to do with all this? Ford and Geely. The last brand with which Ford has been related in recent days has been with Geely. According to Reuters, Ford and Geely, Chinese group that owns Volvo, Polestar or Smart, among othersare holding talks to produce cars in Europe in one of the spaces that the company has on our continent. In addition, collaboration is being studied for the development of shared technologies such as autonomous driving. In Reuters They point to two sources who were aware of this information and the company has not denied that this is happening. “We have conversations with many companies about many things. Some are fruitful and others are not,” the Americans assure the news agency. For its part, Geely has not commented. Ford moves. It is not the first time that the company has been related to a Chinese company. On this occasion, it is said that negotiations have been underway for months and that Ford would have sent workers to the Asian country to advance a hypothetical agreement. Coincidence or not, Jim Farley has been traveling in China recently and He has been complimenting Chinese manufacturers for a long time. One of those companies that he has complimented and with which it has also been related It’s Xiaomi. Farley himself took a Xiaomi SU7 to the United States and has not failed to point out all the good things this product does. The collaboration agreement, it seems evident, would be for Europe since Chinese cars have an almost impossible future in the United States as a consequence of the Government’s own veto. Why Geely? The conversations with Geely seem to have much more substance than the possible collaborations with Xiaomi. The automobile conglomerate has brands that are not unknown to the European public (Volvo, Lotus, Smart…) whose electric cars do not have to break that barrier of entry into the European collective imagination as a “Chinese car.” However, Geely has a problem: they pay a lot of tariffs. As many as 37.6% after The European Union will withdraw in 2024 to try to protect an industry that was threatened by cheaper electric cars. Since then, the impact of the Chinese car has been limited to the lowest priced units. And it doesn’t seem like it’s going to change whether the negotiations between the European Union and China They still don’t get ahead. Collaborating with Ford and using the company’s facilities would allow Geely to produce electric cars without going through the checkout. And although labor costs are higher than the Chinese, they would not have to build new facilities because they would take advantage of those that the company has already built. Almussafes? In the information of Reuters It is assured that “Ford’s plant in Valencia would probably be the factory involved in these talks, said a person familiar with the matter.” However, some details must be taken into account. The factory is running right now at half throttlewith a Ford Kuga that is facing its last days on the market and that is not going to be renewed. The promise is to produce a multi-energy vehicle small size until 2028 when an electric car should arrive. To do this, the plant would need a deep reconversion that Ford is reluctant to carry out because North Americans are obtaining very low sales with their electric cars. A solution, therefore, would be to reach an agreement with Geely so that the Chinese company would take advantage of these facilities by making the appropriate conversions. The only doubt is that, right now, the plan is to produce a small model with a combustion engine. Electrifying space can put in check this multi-energy car that Ford should start producing soon. For now, the newspaper Levant reports that the brand will send a Ford delegation in the coming days to speak with those responsible for the factory. Ford’s mess with the electric car. Little by little, Ford has been falling into a small hole with the electric car which has a complicated solution. The brand has decided that its future lies in two clearly differentiated family lines: one made by themselveswith the Ford seal as quality and names clearly differentiated from the rest of the range (Mustang or Bronco) and lower cost cars manufactured by third parties. Europe is heading towards a future where the electric car seems the only solution. Until now, Ford’s investments have fallen on deaf ears and that is why it has reached a agreement with Volkswagen which has borne fruit electric Ford Explorer and the Ford Capri. And it has also signed an agreement with Renault so that the French can produce them in France. a sort of Renault 5 and Renault 4 with the blue oval. Ford promises that the cars will have their own American essence. At the same time, Ford focuses its own models on high-priced combustion or electric vehicles, such as the Mustang Mach-E. This allows them to achieve higher profit margins and bring combustion models to Europe in dribs and drabs whose high price justifies the increase in the final volume of emissions to be presented to regulators. What are the exits? At the moment, the first information points to different exits in the event that the negotiations between Ford and Geely come to fruition. First, it must be taken into account that what Geely may be most interested in is a car factory capable of producing electric vehicles as quickly as possible. Ford has a … Read more

Ford has auctioned the most exclusive prototype of the 2017 Ford GT. So exclusive that no one will be able to drive it

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Ford has just auctioned a car so special and unique that, in fact, it was not made for customers, but for the engineers who were working on the development of the Second generation Ford GT to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford’s triplet at Le Mans in 1966. So much so that the car was auctioned with a naked, unpainted body. However, it is such an exclusive supercar that Ford has made sure to keep it away from prying eyes, so although its engine runs perfectly, no one can show it off in public. Above all, its owner. First prototype, second legend The Ford GT Mk II, which has just been auctioned on the Barrett-Jackson portal, was designed at the end of 2015 as mechanical test mule for the new engine that would be mounted in the second generation of the Ford GT that was presented in 2017. Engineers used this car in the early testing phases of the project to collect real-world data on the dynamic behavior of the design, its aerodynamic stability and the response of the suspension under extreme conditions. So it was the intermediate step between the designs on paper and the model that would finally hit the market two years later. Being an early design means the car still retains the essence of original designsbefore aerodynamics or technical requirements forced certain profiles of its bodywork to be polished. However, its usefulness as a test mule meant that technical usefulness was prioritized over aesthetics. It was a laboratory tool on wheels, not a rolling showcase, and this was taken to the extreme that the engineers did not even consider painting the carbon fiber body, sensing that sooner rather than later it would need touch-ups. Only five prototypes were built, so this unit spent years stored in the collection. Ford Heritage Fleetan internal collection with which the brand protects its most valuable prototypes and vehicles with historical pedigree, until the time came to bring it to light. Its recent sale makes it a unique case: it goes from being a corporate secret to becoming a private trophy. Driving in public is prohibited However, the brand had a hidden ace up its sleeve. The purchase of this unique supercar was linked to a very restrictive clause: the explicit and absolute prohibition of registering it, insuring it as a vehicle or driving it on any public road. That is, its owner will never be able to wear it in public, except to use it on a private circuit. In this way, the first prototype of the 2017 Ford GT becomes a sculpture with an engine that can only be admired in the buyer collection who has paid $467,500 for that unique specimen due to its technical and historical pedigree. Be the first Ford GT prototype to break the garage confidentiality Ford classifies it as an exclusive collector’s piece, especially for those who already have a street GT in their collection. Under that rough and rough untreated carbon fiber body there is still the 3.5 EcoBoost V6 biturbo engine that it shares with the final GT, a brutal engine with a double turbocharger that delivers its power through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, optimized for pure rear-wheel drive. When you open its doors upwards, you are greeted by an interior as austere and practical as its exterior, designed to give your all on the track, but without the fine Alcantara finishes that you expect to find in a car for which you have paid almost $500,000. It features a single fixed bucket seat molded in carbon fiber for the test driver, position-adjustable pedals to adapt to different drivers, and a flattened Formula 1-style steering wheel with integrated buttons. No sign of the passenger seat, which underlines its single-seater work role, whose objective was to push it to the limit the performance of your engine and its bodywork. An untamed beast…that no one can legally drive on a road. In Xataka | In 1982 someone became unhealthy obsessed with a Mercedes-Benz 500 SL: in 43 years he has not driven it even a single kilometer. Image | Barret&Jackson

Ford will have two electric cars based on the Renault 5. It is confirmation of a Ford that is diluted in Europe

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Ford will have at least six electric cars on the market. Four of them will not be “purely Ford” cars. And the American company has confirmed that it has reached an agreement with Renault to provide the brand with two “affordable” electric cars. The agreement also contemplates a future partnership for commercial vehicles. But above all, a concept floats in the air: what Ford do we expect for Europe? Two electric made in Renault. With a press release, Ford and Renault have confirmed that the first will use the Ampere platform to launch two “affordable” electric cars on the market in the coming years. The first, they point out from Ford, should reach dealerships in the early stages of 2028. That is to say, what seems certain is that we will see a kind of Renault 5 with the Ford logo. The question is whether we will see a second electric car based on the Renault 4 (to expand spectrum with something B-SUV type) or based on the Twingo to look for another type of client. For now, everything indicates pointing to new Renault 5 and 4 Ford. In France. These Ford cars with a French flavor will even be manufactured in Electricitythe plant that Renault has in France and where the aforementioned come from Five and Fourhence it is the couple that we will probably see on the street. The arrival of these new models is also a boost to the factory itself. It is where Renault’s small electric models are assembled, but also the Nissan Micra (brother of the Renault 5). They have the capacity to continue expanding production and had options from Alpine, Dacia or Mitusbishi, which are also part of the Renault Group or are collaborators. The arrival of the new Ford is an endorsement for a plant that has the capacity to assemble up to 620,000 vehicles annually. Ford, what Ford? In the statement, Ford wanted to mark territory and defend that the new cars that leave the French plant will have the hallmarks of the oval brand. “The two cars will feature distinctive driving dynamics, authentic Ford brand DNA and an intuitive user experience,” the company says. The truth is that in the medium term, Ford will have six electric cars on the market and four of them are mounted on external platforms. Thus, only the Puma Gen-E and the Mustang Mach-E They are purely Ford cars. The ford explorer and Capri have been launched on the basis of Volkswagen’s MEB, with the ID.4 as a brother of the Americans. Now two more electric cars will arrive from outside the company. The two speeds. The announcement does nothing more than reaffirm the strategy that Ford seems to have decided for Europe. The company has long been talking about a company at two speeds where the vehicles with the highest cost for the customer (and benefits for the company) are manufactured by Ford with its hallmarks and sold in exclusive families within the company itself such as Ford, Raptor or Bronco. The rest of the models, such as electric ones, for which you must make big investments and whose financial results are not being too good due to slower customer reception than expected, is what is being left in the hands of third parties. That is to say, Ford is trying to focus its efforts and make its highest-cost investments in those models that it knows work best for them. This has a counterpart. The brand risks being diluted between models that have their personal touch, like the Explorer, but where there is no doubt that they have a very characteristic Volkswagen car flavor. This strategy of “third party” models for Europe endangers the company’s brand image and could place it in a less dominant position if in the future they want to return to making their own investments for the European market. And Valencia? The announcement adds to the future Ford Bronco Sport for Europe, a model that will be assembled in Valencia, according to Automotive Newsand that comes to keep the plant alive with a “Europeanization” of the American model based on the Ford Kuga. A few weeks ago, The Automotive Tribune It also pointed out this possibility and that another second model would arrive at the Valencian plant. This strategy would help keep the factory alive by assembling models with combustion engines while electric ones (which require greater investment and lower return at low prices) are being left in the hands of third parties. Photo | Renault and Ford In Xataka | Until now, on Amazon you could buy practically everything except cars. That just changed with Ford

Ford CEO is completely obsessed with Chinese electric cars

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“Xiaomi is the Apple of China.” These are the words not of just anyone, but of Jim Farley, CEO of Ford. The boss of the American company is one of the bosses who has been the most talked about in recent years. And the reason is approach when studying rivals. It is rare to see the CEO of a company praising a rival, but Farley not only does not mince words, but is determined to air the details that need to be improved to catch up. And if there’s one thing that’s catching Farley’s attention, it’s Chinese cars and, in particular, the Xiaomi SU7. Knowing the competition. The automobile industry has embarked on electrification, and if this adventure is making one thing clear, it is that China is leading the way. Although Tesla struck first from the West, it is the Asian giant’s companies that are pushing both technology and batteries. This is generating an ecosystem in which chinese cars They are extremely competitive in the market, something that is making Western manufacturers nervous. To better understand his competition, Farley had the idea of ​​carrying out a series of trips to China to select cars to take back to the United States. Not to dismantle them – or not only – but to drive them on a daily basis on everyday trips. In a recent interview with La Naciónstates that the entire management team is going on that trip to choose 50 cars. He doesn’t want to get off his SU7. Of those 50, they keep five, and they are the ones they take back to Detroit. The one chosen by Farley? He Xiaomi SU7. He liked it to the point of saying that “it’s fantastic,” stating that he didn’t want to get off of it. Previously, already rated the company as “an industry giant and a much stronger consumer brand than automotive companies,” but now it has gone a little further. The Apple of China. “Everyone talks about the Apple car, but the Xiaomi car already exists and it is fantastic,” said before the official cancellation of the car was known. And, in fact, in that interview for La Nación, Farley commented that he is not surprised that Xiaomi is so successful. “It is the Apple of China.” Precisely, it is the “ecosystem” that stands out, something that is Apple’s strong point: “You get into the car with your phone and you don’t have to pair it because it automatically identifies it. It has facial recognition, an AI assistant and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in three seconds with just the push of a button. It looks like a porsche taycan”, he assures. Humiliating. Is it perfect? “No, and we could surpass it in the segments in which we compete,” adds the manager. But Farley’s ‘flowers’ are not only for Xiaomi, but for the Chinese industry. At the Aspen Ideas Festival held in June of this year, CEO described what he saw in China as “lor most humiliating thing I have ever seen in my life”. The reason? That 70% of the world’s electric vehicles are manufactured in China and that they have cabin technology much superior to that offered by many Western brands. “Automatically, your entire digital life is reflected in the car.” Technology gap. Farley’s interest in competitors, both Chinese and domestic, is evident. When Ford entered the electric segment, He did it like an elephant in a china shopwith a Ford Mustang Mach-E which was very expensive to develop when its competitors already had much more optimized processes that allowed the price of cars to be lowered. Since then, they have been changing strategy and moving chips. They hired Doug Field, former chief engineer of the Tesla Model 3 and member in Apple car design, and was the one who opened cars to Farley. Field sincere: “Jim, your parts release system and development architecture are 25 years behind. You can’t compete like that with BYD”. The acid test will be the new electric pickup that Ford is preparing for 2027 with the aim of making it affordable. We will see, of course, how the market responds, but what is clear is that Farley does not fall short when it comes to praising the competition. Images | Xataka, Ford In Xataka | Ford invested 1 billion to produce electric cars in Europe. Now it will invest money in laying off 1,000 employees

There are so few mechanics on the market that Ford is taking radical measures, like paying them $120,000

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In the United States, and in general in the main Western economies, the manufacturing industry faces a serious problem: there is no specialized labor to fill the vacancies that are leaving who retire. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, has stressed in an interview for the podcast Office Hours: Business Edition that his company has “5,000 mechanic vacancies. A workshop with an elevator and tools, and no one to work in it. They charge 120,000 a year, but it takes five years to learn how to do it.” This lack of training is the weakest link in the chain for Ford and the majority of the industrial sector. Global talent crisis. One of Trump’s slogans when he came to power is to reindustrialize the country. However, for many billion dollar investment that I get for build huge factorieswill fall on deaf ears if there are no well-trained employees to produce. This problem can be extrapolated to any country in the world. During his podcast appearance, Farley lamented: “We have over a million vacancies in critical jobs: emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and technical trades. It’s very serious.” The situation is not exclusive to Ford. According what was published by NPRwith data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the US there were almost 500,000 unfilled jobs in the manufacturing sector, even with a rising unemployment rate that stood at 4.3%. This is an indication that, although there are people who are unemployed, companies cannot hire them because they simply do not have the training to do the jobs they need. In Spain, the problem is also significant. The BBVA Foundation estimated that the manufacturing industry had lost a quarter of its employment since the beginning of the century, and there are an estimated 100,000 vacant jobs in the industry, in a country with 2,613,200 unemployed, according to data of the EPA’s third quarter of 2025. Again, this mismatch is due to the gap between the training of the workforce and the needs of companies. Importance of Vocational Training. Farley insists that the current reality demands a serious commitment to professional training, since “to learn how to disassemble a diesel engine from a Ford Super Duty truck requires at least five years.” For this reason, the CEO points out that without a determined effort to strengthen technical training schools and offer competitive wages, the American industrial economy—and that of any country that aspires to industrialization—is doomed to failure. The lack of investment in this type of training is one of the main causes of the crisis. Farley mentioned that “we don’t have trade schools. We are not investing in educating a new generation like my grandfather, who started with nothing and built a middle-class life for his family (working on the assembly line of a Ford factory).” The Spanish FP is a success story. In Spain, Vocational Training has experienced a big change thanks to investment policies, greater training offers and the involvement of companies in the training of those who will later become their employees. In fact, according to the report ‘Infoempleo Adecco 2024‘, in 46.96% of the job offers published during the last year, candidates were asked have a vocational training degree. The FP student report of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports reveals that, in the 2022-2023 academic year, 1,085,259 students were enrolled in Vocational Training degrees. That represents an increase of 32.6% compared to the last five years. The demographic factor is going to make it worse. A key factor in the number of vacancies is the template aging: Many workers with decades of experience are retiring and there are not enough young people trained to take their places. This is a problem that not only affects the industrial sector, but also affects the entire labor market, both in the public sector as private. Seeing that young people are showing greater interest in Vocational Training invites us to think that the number of vacancies in sectors with vacancies due to lack of trained labor at present will not increase, but the big question is whether this generational change will arrive on time and to the areas that are needed. As and as highlighted Jensen Huang, the new millionaires will not be engineers or AI experts, but electricians, carpenters, bricklayers or bus drivers. Incentives: “Pay them more”. Never have three words held as much truth as those spoken by Joe Biden when someone asked him how to end the labor shortage: “Pay them more.” Pay them more. In his attempts to attract qualified labor to his assembly lines, Ford’s CEO adopted a strategy that the company’s founder, Henry Ford, implemented in 1914: raise salaries. That’s why Farley boasted of paying $120,000 to his mechanics. Just as he told in an interview with Walter Isaacson, Farley came to that conclusion when during labor agreement negotiations, some of his workers approached him and commented: “Young people don’t want to work here. Jim, you pay $17 an hour and they’re very stressed.” To combat this, Ford approved a 25% pay increase for its workers over four years, ensuring everyone has a fair wage and a viable career future. have a professional opportunity with a good salary and job stability is the best incentive for young people to spend five years of their lives training for a profession. In Xataka | 47% of the unemployed in Spain are over 50 years old. The problem is that many will not return to work until they retire. Image | ford

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