It’s Official – Ford & Volkswagen Form A Global Alliance!
The two groups will also work on electric vehicles, new transport services and self-driving technologies.
At the ongoing 2019 Detroit Motor Show, Volkswagen and Ford have announced a global alliance to develop future products including pickup trucks and vans. The two groups will also work on electric vehicles, new transport services and self-driving technologies. Just so you know that none of the companies will take stakes in the other, it’s instead a tie-up where in both the brands will use each other’s expertise to reduce the overall cost of different projects.
Ford has formed a similar alliance in India as well with Mahindra, where in both the brands will co-develop vehicles and help each other penetrate different markets. With such alliances, Ford aims to reduce its costs upto USD 25 billion in the course of next 5 years.
As part of the alliance, a joint committee led by Ford chief executive Jim Hackett and VW chief executive Herbert Diess along with some other senior officials from both the groups. It’s one the largest non merger tie-ups between the two groups since Renault-Nissan Alliance that was formed in 1999. And at a time when the manufacturing costs for vehicles, thanks to the newer technologies, is going up, the alliance can turn out to be fruitful for both the brands without liquidating stakes. Read – 20 New SUVs To Launch In India In 2019
Volkswagen has strong presence in Europe and China and has expertise in electric vehicles, Ford has got a hold of North America and commercial vehicles along with its own self-driving car programme.
The first product from the Ford-Volkswagen alliance will be a mid-size pickup truck that will go on sale in the United States in 2022, followed by a small van for city usage. While Ford will be responsible for designing and developing mid-size pickups for both the companies and large commercial vans for Europe, Volkswagen will be working on a city van. Also, both the companies can co-develop electric vehicles in China. Read – Car and Bike Modifications are Illegal, Says Supreme Court
So that’s it on the Ford-Volkswagen alliance for now, more concrete details will be shared in coming weeks. Stay tuned to ICN for all the information on this development.
