It looked like it to me, it was more obvious in the 1990s as the Escort and Probe didn't do much to hide their Mazda roots. Ford and Nissan worked together as well, the Mercury Villager and the first two iterations of the Nissan Quest were interesting and both the Ford(chassis) and Nissan(powertrain) sides clashed.
The Fiesta/Mazda2, Focus/Mazda3/Volvo S40 and Fusion/Mazda6 were more integrated with each brand's "image". It seemed like Ford's brain trust let Volvo and Mazda work on the platforms for the their "global" car lineup, and the guys in Dearborn were focused on North America-exclusive things like trucks, SUVs(except the 2nd gen Escape and EcoSport), Mustang and GT40. Ford UK/Germany did contribute to the Mondeo and the Transit family.
We can't forget Jaguar and Land Rover as well, but it looked like Ford took a more laisez-faire approach with them. The first real Ford as a Jag was the Lincoln LS/Thunderbird which was based off the S-Type, Ford engines went into Range Rovers/LR3 and the RR Evoque does share some commonalities with the current Explorer.