Ford made a big announcement earlier this week by declaring its European operations will no longer sell combustion-engined passenger vehicles in 2030. There's no word yet on when its North American division will do the same, but it's really only a matter of time. General Motors, Jaguar, and Bentley have also recently confirmed they'll be battery-electric-only brands in the near future. At the heart of Ford of Europe's EV drive will be its Germany-based "Ford Cologne Electrification Center." At present, this facility builds the overseas-only Fiesta and Focus, among others.

But what EV will replace those vehicles once their time is up? Will we have to wait nine years for that EV to arrive? According to Auto Express, the answer will come in 2023 when a so-called "mini Mustang Mach-E" will debut.

It'll be a completely separate vehicle from the regular Ford Mustang Mach-E but will incorporate a lot of Mustang-inspired styling. A crossover body style has already been decided upon because of the segment's growing popularity. But here's the thing: this mini Mustang Mach-E won't be a Ford underneath, but rather a Volkswagen. Yes, really.

Ford and Volkswagen last year made a non-equity-sharing agreement that includes working together on commercial vans, a mid-size truck for VW with Ranger underpinnings, and a new Ford EV riding on VW's MEB modular architecture, the same platform used for the ID.3 and ID.4. That EV will be the mini Mustang Mach-E.

The ID.3 is almost 168 inches long, so Ford's new EV will be sized between the Fiesta and Focus. The overseas-only Puma, a subcompact crossover Ford's CEO publicly said he'd love to see sold in the US, measures about 165 inches in length. The Mach-E is about 186 inches long. Interior space, meanwhile, will surpass that of the Focus. And because this is a VW platform, Ford will have no choice but to use the ID.3's batteries, either a 58-kWh or 77-kWh unit.

Additional hardware will also be sourced from VW, though Ford's software systems, such as SYNC 4, are expected to be used. A range between 250 and 350 miles is expected. Once it goes on sale - and we highly doubt it'll be called the Mini Mustang Mach-E - it'll be priced beneath the Mach-E at around 30,000 to 40,000 euros. And no, it won't be coming to the US.