On January 18 in Detroit, Ford CEO Jim Farley and Red Bull Racing CEO Laurent Mekies formalized a multi-year collaboration focused on electrification and hybrid powertrain development. The agreement commits Ford to invest $150 million over the next three years in Red Bull’s Milton Keynes facility, while Red Bull will channel proprietary energy-recovery and aerodynamics data into Ford’s upcoming Mustang Dark Horse hybrid program. Together, they aim to co-develop a 1.6-liter hybrid turbo unit capable of exceeding 1,000 horsepower for both Formula 1 competition and future high-performance road cars.

As part of the collaboration, Ford and Red Bull will expand their U.S. presence by creating 220 new engineering and advanced manufacturing positions across Michigan and Ohio. Of these roles, 75 will be specialized composite engineers focused on lightweight chassis technologies, and 145 will support powertrain calibration and software integration. Ford projects that these hires will boost local supplier contracts by $80 million annually, with an additional $30 million dedicated to tooling and prototyping at Ford’s Dearborn lab.

During the Bloomberg Television interview, Farley emphasized the ongoing impact of U.S. trade policies instituted from 2017–2020, noting that steel and aluminum tariffs added roughly $250 per vehicle in production costs. He warned that potential reinstatement of Section 232 duties could raise that figure by another 15%. On labor, Ford has budgeted a 6% wage increase in its latest contract with the UAW, effective February 2026, translating to an additional $1.2 billion in annual payroll expenses. Farley concluded that further tariff volatility and labor cost shifts will accelerate Ford’s pivot toward electric-vehicle assembly in non-tariff-exposed regions such as Mexico and Canada, where planned EV capacity is set to increase by 40% over the next five years.