China's Geely used 800 engineers and AI to create a modular EV manufacturing system; Ford is now applying it in Spain, aiming to slash development time and costs by half without building the system itself

The global automotive industry is undergoing a structural transition from traditional, single-purpose vehicle chassis to software-defined, modular architectures. Historically, developing a proprietary platform required isolated engineering of structural hardpoints, crash-structure deformation zones, and powertrain mounts—a process demanding immense capital expenditure and multi-year lead times.

By integrating Geely’s Global Energy Architecture into its Almussafes facility in Valencia, Spain, Ford is fundamentally altering its structural engineering methodology. This transition allows the automaker to decouple top-hat exterior design from core floorpan and powertrain mechanics, leveraging pre-validated mechanical interfaces to eliminate design redundancies across vehicle segments.