The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the talks between the two companies are continuing and might not culminate in a deal.
- Ford and BYD are reportedly discussing how a potential partnership would work.
- BYD hasn’t made passenger car batteries in the U.S. till date.
- Ford is also putting up a battery plant in Michigan where it intends to build low cost cells starting this year with the help of technology from Chinese battery maker CATL.
Dearborn-based automaker Ford Motor Co. (F) is reportedly in talks with BYD Co. Ltd. (BYDDF) about a potential partnership involving the use of the Chinese player’s batteries in Ford’s hybrid vehicles.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the talks are continuing and might not culminate in a deal. The two carmakers are reportedly discussing how a potential partnership would work, and are considering ideas including Ford importing batteries from BYD to non-U.S. factories.
Shares of F traded marginally in the green at the time of writing.
BYD’s EV And Battery Capacities
BYD is the world’s largest EV maker. Unlike its American counterpart Tesla, BYD makes both plug-in hybrid, and battery-powered electric vehicles.
The company makes most of its batteries in China but it is also building capacity in overseas plants. While BYD has made some batteries for commercial vehicles at its California bus-manufacturing plant, it hasn’t yet made passenger car batteries in the U.S., WSJ noted.
Meanwhile, Ford is also putting up a battery plant in Michigan, where it intends to build low-cost cells starting this year with the help of technology from Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) to power its future electric vehicles.
Ford’s Pivot Away From EVs
The report of the new deal talks comes on the heels of Ford realigning its EV strategy last month, pivoting away from pure EVs, and towards hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Ford said in December that it expects to incur $19.5 billion in EV-related charges after it killed several big EV models to stem losses from the segment. While a majority of the charges would be incurred in the fourth quarter, the remaining will be incurred in 2026 and 2027, the company said.
“Ford no longer plans to produce select larger electric vehicles where the business case has eroded due to lower-than-expected demand, high costs and regulatory changes,” the company had said.
CEO Jim Farley had noted that the move is centered on customer demand. “The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro, our market-leading trucks and vans, hybrids and high margin opportunities like our new battery energy storage business,” he said.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the automaker reported that its hybrid sales rose about 18% to 55,374 vehicles while pure EV sales declined by about 52% to 14,513 units.
How Did Stocktwits Users React?
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around F stock fell from ‘bullish’ to ‘neutral’ territory over the past 24 hours while message volume dipped from ‘extremely high’ to ‘high’ levels.
F stock has gained 39% over the past 12 months.
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