Inside Ford’s big comeback plan: Fiesta, small SUV, hybrid and VW relationship all explained

Two years on from Ford stopping production of the Fiesta, Europe’s beloved supermini is set for a Lazarean comeback – as an electric hatchback. Better a sinner who repents than a proud saint. 

It’s all thanks to an alliance with Renault, who will provide the platform, battery, motors and factory to build the new EV. Yes, the French car maker that’s generated a huge brand buzz bringing back its chic ‘70s and ‘80s supermini – the Renault 5 – will enable Ford to do precisely the same thing and reboot its more recently departed Fiesta. Britain’s all-time best-selling car, a supermini that shifted more than 22-million units, will be reborn in 2028.

The even bigger story is that Ford is taking a deep breath and committing its deeper pockets to fighting on in Europe – despite shedding 551,000 new car registrations and more than a third of its workforce in the past six years.  

“Today is the first in a number of chapters about how we’re going to compete and win in Europe,” new Ford of Europe president Jim Baumbick told Auto Express on a media call outlining the new Renault partnership. Baumbick has devoted his 32-year Ford career to planning and developing new cars around the world.

1. Which new Fords are in the pipeline for Europe?

There are two other new Fords in the pipeline, one being a long-awaited mid-size crossover – inspired by the Bronco Sport – to be built in Ford’s Spanish factory. The second is another EV on the Renault electric platform, with the smart money on a small SUV. The platform is suitable for SUV bodystyles: it will underpin next year’s boxy Dacia Spring replacement. A Ford spin-off could provide the opportunity to revive the Ka name and attack the city car segment with Europe’s favourite bodystyle.

Or could the Renault 4’s chassis and motors underpin the second-generation Puma Gen-E instead? That EV will be three-years-old in 2028 and the combustion version even older; it hit the market in 2020. But it’s inconceivable that Ford would pull the Gen-E out of its Romanian factory, and reduce volume from its Halewood electric motor assembly line: every decision Ford takes in Europe is to maximise efficiencies. “I see these two [electric] vehicles as an augment to Puma,” said Baumbick.

“On the platforms…we make and develop in Europe, our goal is to get to higher levels of scale,” confirms Baumbick. Whether that means sharing the next Puma’s underpinnings more widely across Ford (though it’s too small for North American tastes), or potentially with a third party manufacturer, is still to play out. But converging life cycles with outsiders to co-develop vehicles is challenging. 

2. Why is Ford teaming up with other car makers such as Renault? 

Ford’s strategy is wide-open to partnerships; it has to be because the  Blue Oval is not part of a big automotive group. So it has alliances with Volkswagen collaborating on both EVs and vans, and the one with Renault may evolve into a second van agreement: talks are underway. While Ford struggles in passenger cars, its van business is hugely profitable and makes Europe hard to walk away from.

“Partnerships are a critical part of our [strategy],” says Baumbick. “In order to compete at the level of cost, we need to ensure that we’re getting scale and getting to new levels of material cost and leveraging the supply chain as well as design efficiency.” This focus has squeezed thousands of dollars out of new model programmes, he adds.  

Ford’s mid-size electric SUVs – the Explorer and Capri – are based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform, though industrialised in Ford’s Cologne plant at a $2-billion cost. The Fiesta replacement and its sister EV will go a step further and reduce investment by being assembled in Renault’s French ElectriCity manufacturing complex.  

3. Why didn’t Ford work with VW on small EVs?

It’s notable that Ford didn’t decide to partner with VW on the small electric cars. We ask Jim Baumbick to explain why and he responds: “We looked at a wide range of possibilities to compete in the small EV segment, and given the speed, agility and competitiveness, the Renault Ampere platform was the right choice for us.” 

Volkswagen is still to get its VW ID. Polo, Cupra Raval and Skoda Epiq into production on the MEB+ platform and is building a new German battery plant to power them; Renault has done the hard yards on all this already. And by setting up an R&D centre in China, the French have slashed vehicle development times: the new Renault Twingo was engineered – admittedly from an existing components set – in fewer than 24 months. Ford looks to be working to a similar timeline if it gets the Fiesta into production in 2028. 

“If we were to do this on our own, it would take time to develop the platform, a lot of capital to install, and in this marketplace, we need to move with agility and speed,” says Baumbick. 

Collaborating with Renault to learn how to compete with the Chinese is a major motivation for Ford. “Europe is very important for the overall fitness of the company,” says the regional president. “It's really a test given the level of competitive activity around EVs and the emergence of the Chinese OEMs as they import into Europe.” 

Such competition isn’t as white-hot in Ford’s domestic market, with tariffs continuing to lock out Chinese car makers and the Trump administration rolling back on electrification demands. But something intrinsically American – the Ford Bronco SUV – is heading the other way, out of the US to Europe.

4. What’s this about a hybrid crossover for Ford’s Spanish plant?

Continuing Ford’s strategy of mining its famous nameplates and SUV heritage, the Bronco’s less rugged, downsized sister car – the Bronco Sport – is the template for the new model going into the Valencia factory. The plant currently assembles the Kuga, a six-year-old crossover, which is based on the same C2 underpinnings as the Bronco Sport. Interestingly, a previous Baumbick European posting was working on the C2 project.

The new model, set for launch in 2027, will have a car-like monocoque chassis, rather than the bigger Bronco’s off-road biased ladder-frame. “The new [bodystyle] we’re developing in Valencia will be multi-energy,” Baumbick told Auto Express. “We believe that multi-energy, including EV, is critical to advancing both the mission of CO2-reduction and meeting our customers’ needs.” 

Hybrid powertrains are confirmed but it remains to be seen whether the crossover is available as a pure electric model too. Back in 2022 Ford announced it would install a next-gen EV architecture into the Spanish plant, a plan set back by the Blue Oval pivoting much of its EV engineering and manufacturing back to the States due to policies enacted by the Biden and Trump administrations.

5. Where will it all end for Ford in Europe?

The upshot is that, by 2029, Ford should have key areas of the European passenger car market covered, with the Puma, reborn Fiesta and the other Renault spin-off in the B-segment, while the Bronco Sport, Explorer and Capri SUVs attack the mid-size market. 

That said, Ford vows it has no desire to offer a full vehicle portfolio, turning back the clock to when it offered the Ka city car all the way up to the Mondeo saloon and Galaxy people carrier. “Our orientation is not to play in every segment,” says Baumbick. “Our goal is to win in very specific segments, speaking to enthusiasts and customers that are passionate about their vehicles. That’s where Ford has been at its best.”

“What I’m most excited about is the commitment that Ford is making to really fortify our future in Europe. We are committed to manufacturing and building cars in Europe for Europeans, designed in Europe. This will complement a winning business on the commercial vehicle side.”

In 2024, Ford of Europe’s car registrations hit a record low 426,307 units, compared with 1.2-million units 20 years ago. The road to recovery starts here. In an alliance with Renault – a company which has just pulled off its own remarkable salvage job.

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