Düsseldorf, MunichGeneral pick-ups in the United States and in Europe, a possible cooperation in electric cars and autonomous driving. Volkswagen and ford, two heavyweights in the global auto industry are joining forces. Because digitization and electrification are devouring billions of development costs, they want to the German and the American automaker team up,
The cooperation in light commercial vehicles such as pick-ups and transporters is only the first step, If the further negotiations are positive, want VW and ford announce joint projects for self-driving cars and electromobility this year. Both companies have signed a memorandum of understanding for these areas.
“There is still a lot of work ahead of us,” Ford CEO Jim Hackett said on a conference call on Tuesday Launch of the Detroit Motor Show, VW CEO Herbert Diess spoke of a good climate of cooperation that has developed on both sides. “There are two partners at the table here who have similar views and similar goals,” he said.
Jointly produced pick-ups are the first project of the long-planned commercial vehicle cooperation. From 2022, Volkswagen is expected to discontinue its own pick-up production in Hanover and will only purchase these models from Ford. At the moment, the Amarok is still being produced in the Hanover transporter factory.
Current club events
As an American automaker, unlike Volkswagen, Ford has proven expertise in pick-ups. The VW group could switch off its pick-ups in the future Ford plants in South Africa and South America, then produced on Ford platforms and with Ford engines.
Detroit Auto Show: Transatlantic Cooperation – So VW and Ford want to work together in the future
2023 is the common transporter production of both auto companies begin. For this VW will relocate the production of part of its T-models (“Bulli”) in Ford plants in Turkey. Ford is primarily to produce the commercial vehicle variant for craft and trade, the Bulli as a passenger remains in Hanover. The production gaps in the Hanoverian plant wants to fill VW with new electric vehicles.
In turn, Volkswagen will also produce a city delivery van (“Caddy”) for Ford. The joint production facility is likely to be Volkswagen’s Polish commercial vehicle plant in Poznan, where VW is already producing the Caddy.
Ford is much more urgent than Volkswagen relies on the cooperation with the German partner. The operating return of Americans is four percent, VW comes to around seven percent. Not enough to finance the billions of dollars spent on electrification of the model range.
Cooperation has tradition
Hackett is already steering against: In the future, Ford will build in the US almost only SUVs and pick-ups, because the yield more than classic sedans and station wagons. But even with such serious cuts Ford is not progressing decisively enough.
After all, the company only makes money in its home market – Ford writes losses in South America, Asia and Europe. Therefore, the cooperation with Volkswagen for the US group comes at the right moment.
The cooperation has a long tradition: as early as the 1980s, both companies operated a joint venture under the name “Autolatina”. Production, sales – everything had VW and Ford under one roof. As the economic situation improved in the mid-1990s, each of the two partners made their own way back to South America.
But in Europe they came together: In the Portuguese Palmela Ford and Volkswagen built their large saloons “Sharan” and “Galaxy” also together. In the late 1990s, Ford decided to retreat, Volkswagen took over the factory completely.
Experts evaluate the new alliance positively: “Volkswagen lacks a large pick-up in the US, Ford is market leader in this segment,” says Axel Schmidt, car expert at the management consultancy Accenture, On the other hand, Ford could benefit from Volkswagens major investments in electromobility.
The old competitive thinking in the car industry is no longer adequate today. Axel Schmidt, Accenture
All in all, the proposed alliance shows that even industry figures such as VW and Ford alone can not tap into the resources needed to serve all markets and technologies. “The old competition in the car industry is no longer adequate today,” says Schmidt. Because from barely increasing paragraphs, the corporations must finance increasingly expensive developments. In addition, the competitive situation has changed dramatically. For one thing, Chinese automakers are pushing Geely in the business. On the other hand, the influence of IT companies and mobility service providers is growing.
But even without the fight against intruders like Uber and Google The automakers have to keep their money together. The costs for the stricter requirements for climate protection and waste gas purification are weighing on development budgets.
Power act for the car manufacturer
By 2021, car manufacturers in the EU will have to reduce the consumption of their new-car fleet by around 20 percent in order to reach the European standard of 95 grams per kilometer. By 2030, European lawmakers are demanding a further 37.5 grams of savings – an average car can not consume three liters of fuel.
A technical and financial strength act for the auto industry: Because in addition to the further development of internal combustion engines, the corporations must now also develop hybrid and electric drives, which nobody knows if the customer wants them.
Add to that the high expenses for autonomous driving – a field on which the automakers with companies such as Uber and the Google subsidiary Waymo compete. Hardly any manufacturer can handle the high development costs, complains the board of a German noble manufacturer.
Car company: Why the Renault Nissan model alliance is in crisis
So far, the consequences have mainly attracted foreign manufacturers: already in the past crises, the French and Italian auto industry sought their salvation in new alliances. So are Renault and Nissan since 2002 shares, since 2016 is also Mitsubishi on board.
Despite the Quarrels about the arrest of CEO Carlos Ghosn the business is running around. Both companies share the cost of engines and vehicle architectures. With the jointly developed Nissan Leaf and the Renault Zoe is the French-Japanese team also in electric mobility far ahead of the German competition.
In this country they even competed in their own house. This is how the VW subsidiaries invested Porsche and Audi Until recently, hundreds of millions were spent in racing teams to outdo each other at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Also the first electric cars like the Audi “Etron” and the Porsche “Taycan” are each sinfully expensive in-house developments. Now that’s over, CEO Herbert Diess has trashed Audi and Porsche for cooperation.
BMW and Daimler under pressure
This increases the pressure BMW and Mercedes. Even in Munich and Stuttgart, the fat years are over, both companies shocked their investors with profit warnings. With 2.5 million cars each, both corporations are ahead of industry leaders such as Volkswagen and Toyota with ten million cars rather niche player.
Already, the development budgets of both houses are very tense: at around seven billion euros, the 2018 and 2019 spending on research and development at BMW is at an all-time high, too Daimler is at peak level.
“We are open for discussions when it comes to concrete projects and resulting in a win-win situation,” said Daimler Chief Development Officer Ola Källenius at the electronics trade show CES last week. The existing purchasing co-operation on “non-branded parts” such as belt tensioners could be expanded.