Renault will produce electric Ford vehicles in Douai starting in 2028
- The American carmaker Ford has just signed an agreement with French carmaker Renault for the production of new battery electric cars at the Renault site in Douai (France) and at the Renault site in Maubeuge (France) from 2028. These would be models derived from the Renault 5 E-Tech and the Renault Mégane E-Tech.
- It is clear that the all-electric Ford Capri and Explorer, based on the Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4 platform and produced at Ford's Cologne plant in Germany, are not proving very successful – due to a price considered too high – and are not meeting the carmaker's objectives. 8,300 Capris were produced in 2024 and 16,500 in 2025. The Explorer, on the other hand, was produced in 2024 and 45,000 in 2025. It is also far from the production volumes of the Fiesta at the Cologne plant.
- Having a partnership with Renault to produce new battery electric models in the B and C segments (in a way, the successors to the Fiesta and Focus) would allow Ford to recover some of the volumes lost with the end of the Fiesta and Focus and would allow Renault to get closer to its production targets in Douai, which had been set at 400,000 cars produced per year.
- In 2024, the Douai plant produced 90,000 electric cars, and 2025 is expected to end with a volume of 150,000 units. It is surprising that Ford chose to partner with Renault rather than Volkswagen for its future electric vehicles, as its current Capri and Explorer electric models are based on a Volkswagen platform.