The Ford Fiesta could be on its way back – and not with a petrol engine under the bonnet. Ford has just announced a new strategic partnership with the Renault Group to share electric vehicle technology and manufacturing in Europe, and the timing, platform choice and the size of the cars involved all point towards a future electrified supermini. Ford hasn’t said the words 'Fiesta EV' out loud, but the dots are there to be joined.
At the heart of the deal is an agreement to develop two distinct Ford-branded electric passenger cars for European customers. Both will sit on Renault’s Ampere EV platform – which is found under the Renault 5, Renault 4, Alpine A290 and forthcoming Twingo – drawing on what Renault calls its "strongest electric assets and competitiveness" Both will be produced by Renault in the north of France at its Ampere ElectriCity hub, a manufacturing powerhouse that's aiming to build 480,000 EVs in 2025.
Ford will handle the design – which given the strong look of Renault's recent EVs worries me slightly – with Renault contributing the underlying architecture, software and industrial capability. The companies say the resulting cars will offer “distinctive driving dynamics”, authentic Ford DNA and intuitive experiences, with the first model expected in showrooms in early 2028.
Ford needs to expand again
Strategically, it makes perfect sense. The European EV market is moving quickly and the costs of creating a brand new electric platform are eye watering – especially for smaller cars where margins are tight. And Ford's traditional line-up has disappeared – with the Fiesta and Focus gone, and other mainstream models tapering out, there’s been a real risk Ford ends up looking like a vans and SUVs brand. We know it doesn't mind a partnership like this, though – the Capri and Explorer EV models are both Volkswagens underneath.
Can it even continue to call itself a mainstream brand? This Renault tie-up plots Ford’s route back to proper, high volume passenger cars in Europe starting with smaller, more affordable EVs. Sharing a proven base lets Ford move faster and keep prices realistic, while Renault gains a high-profile partner and extra volume through ElectriCity.
Renault Group CEO François Provost says the partnership shows the strength of Renault’s “partnership knowhow and competitiveness” and argues that combining strengths will make both brands more innovative and responsive in a fast changing market.
Ford CEO Jim Farley describes it as a key step in building a “fit for the future business in Europe”, promising electric models that are fun, capable and still feel unmistakably Ford.
So what about the Fiesta?
Well, Ford ended new Fiesta production in 2023, citing shifting market demands and profitability. Even so, the model’s importance is hard to overstate. More than 16 million of them have been sold globally. In the UK it was a bestseller for 45 years, a car so ubiquitous that looking down any street a Fiesta is as common as lamp posts and kerb stones. That’s why the slightest hint of a comeback becomes national news – the Fiesta is part of Britain’s motoring furniture.
Also worth celebrating would be the potential return of a Fiesta ST – Ford's performance badging – which could be based on the Alpine A290, a car as fun to drive as it is to look at.
However, a note of caution that I think Renault and Ford will need to keep front and centre. Renault already has a similar arrangement with Nissan, and that partnership has drifted into lazy badge engineering. The Nissan Micra is essentially a rebadged Renault 5, and it simply isn’t different enough to hold its own.
If Ford is to bring proper value to this new tie-up, and if Renault is to protect its own brand, they must avoid that trap. Shared tech is fine; shared identity is not. Differentiation in design, in driving feel and in user experience has to be real, not marketing fluff.
There are vans involved too
The partnership stretches beyond passenger cars too. Ford and Renault have signed a Letter of Intent to explore a joint programme for selected European light commercial vehicles, potentially combining decades of experience and industrial scale in the van sector. It underlines that this is intended as a broad, long-term collaboration, not a one-off project. And it's a helpful reminder of what Ford can bring to the table too.
So no, there’s no official electric Fiesta announcement today. But two compact Ford-branded EVs on an Ampere platform, arriving in 2028, built in France and designed to carry Ford’s driving character? If ever there was a moment to start imagining a Fiesta-shaped future again, this is it. The question now is whether it will be good enough to lead Ford's charge into the electric age.
The Renault 5 is a winning EV, but will it work as a rebadged Ford? 
