Volkswagen and Ford set to join forces in ‘strategic alliance’

Car giants plan to share technology and
split the costs of developing new models

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The firms, two of the largest companies in the car
industry, released a joint statement saying that the proposed
partnership would “strengthen each company’s competitiveness” and
could lead to “several joint projects”. 

Following the announcement, VW strategy chief Thomas Sedran
said: “Both companies have strong and complementary positions in
different commercial vehicle segments already. 

“To adapt to the challenging environment, it is of utmost
importance to gain flexibility through alliances.”

The two carmakers say they will focus initially on
commercial vehicles, such as trucks and vans. It is not yet known
whether that will lead to jointly produced production models in the
future.

Ford and VW say the partnership will “not involve equity
arrangements, including cross ownership stakes”.

Instead, the car giants may share technology and split
development costs on major joint projects, Auto Express suggests.

This could include hybrid and electric motors, along with
“connectivity and autonomous driving systems”, according
to the BBC.

The partnership will also bolster VW’s presence in the US, where
the German carmaker is currently is “almost irrelevant”, Bernstein
analyst Max Warburton told the Financial Times. 

VW sold just 339,676 vehicles in the US yesterday, while Ford
sold more than 17 million, the newspaper says.