Ford and Volkswagen explore ‘strategic alliance’ to produce new vehicles

Two global superpowers of car manufacturing, Ford and the Volkswagen Group, are exploring the possibility of collaborating on joint projects.

Unlike partnerships such as the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, any arrangement would be restricted to research and development.

That means we’re unlikely to see Ford and VW selling jointly-developed vehicles but with different badges, or any platform sharing taking place.

Jim Farley, Ford’s president of global markets, said: “Ford is committed to improving our fitness as a business and leveraging adaptive business models – which include working with partners to improve our effectiveness and efficiency.

“This potential alliance with the Volkswagen Group is another example of how we can become more fit as a business, while creating a winning global product portfolio and extending our capabilities.”

The potential partnership will only involve commercial vehicles for now. Ford’s CVs, including the iconic Transit van and F-series of trucks, are some of the world’s most popular.

Volkswagen’s own commercial vehicles, the Caddy, Transporter, Crafter and Amarok are more Europe-biased, but the group also owns the Scania and Man lorry brands.

Volkswagen’s head of group strategy, Thomas Sedran, echoed Ford’s comments, saying: “Markets and consumer demand are changing at an incredible speed. Both companies have strong and complementary positions in different commercial vehicle segments already. To adapt to the challenging environment, it is of the utmost importance to gain flexibility through alliances.

“This is a core element of our Volkswagen Group Strategy 2025. The potential industrial co-operation with Ford is seen as an opportunity to improve competitiveness of both companies globally.”