Ford and Volkswagen confirm ‘global alliance’
Ford and Volkswagen have just confirmed a ‘global alliance’ between the two automotive powerhouses, beginning with the American and German manufacturers collaborating on commercial vehicles, with the possibility of them exploring autonomous and electric vehicles.
The first fruits of the global alliance is expected to be a Volkswagen van that is based on the Ford Transit, but that’s not controversial at all. How about a jointly developed Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok? Just when we thought we had the bakkie industry figured out.
Ford boss Jim Hackett said the alliance will “help both companies create value and meet the needs of our customers and society” and “give us the opportunity to collaborate on shaping the next era of mobility”, while Ford’s president of global markets, Jim Farley, called this move an example of Ford’s commitment to “leveraging adaptive business models”.
Ford and Volkswagen have also committed to investigate possible collaboration on electric and autonomous vehicles, as well as a mobility service. In addition to this, they have indicated openness to “additional vehicle programmes” that may arise later.
The strict legislation in Europe is the main driving factor behind the rush for manufactures to introduce electric models, since the development and sale of petrol and diesel powered vehicles is tightly regulated. Ford and Volkswagen have made it clear that they want to introduce more electric models, with Volkswagen even stating that they want to produce between 2-3 million electric cars by 2025.
Global alliances like this are becoming more common these days due to car makers diverting their resources toward researching and developing zero-emission and autonomous vehicles. Just last year, Honda invested over R37bn in GM’s autonomous division to rival the likes of Google and Apple in the driverless taxi race.
Over in Germany, Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess added that the alliance “will be a cornerstone for our drive to improve competitiveness”.
