The agreement does not entail cross ownership in either of the companies, and a joint committee led by the CEOs will be formed to look after the alliance
Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Company first announced their plans of global alliance back last July. Now, the two auto making giants have finalised an agreement which will see them share or jointly work on a range of projects in the fields of commercial vehicles, electric cars, and even autonomous driving, thus leveraging the global alliance to expand their respective customer base in the world, especially in Europe.
Volkswagen CEO Dr. Herbert Diess and Ford CEO Jim Hackett confirmed that the two manufacturers will together work on developing commercial vans as well as medium-sized pickup trucks for global markets, as early as 2022.
On the occasion, Diess said, “Volkswagen and Ford will harness our collective resources, innovation capabilities and complementary market positions to even better serve millions of customers around the world. At the same time, the alliance will be a cornerstone for our drive to improve competitiveness.”
The alliance will enable the two companies to share investments in vehicle architectures that make use of their respective capabilities and technologies. In addition to this, the two manufacturers have also signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop autonomous vehicles, mobility services and electric vehicles.
Furthermore, the German and the American car making giants will be open to consider other vehicle programs in the future as well. The alliance does not include any cross-ownership between either of the two companies, and will be looked after by a joint committee that which will be led by CEO’s of both the companies, while it will also include senior executives from both Ford and Volkswagen.
As a part of this agreement, Ford will be free to make use of Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Drive platform, that underpins the upcoming VW ID.3 EV. However, we do not expect to see a Ford electric car based on this platform any time before 2023. In addition, Ford will be developing a new medium-sized pickup truck that will be used by both the companies, and is expected to go on sale by 2022.