Diess confirmed discussions with Ford, which has been an occasional partner in past decades, and spoke glowingly of strategies on which the automakers could collaborate, but he dismissed any notion of VW growing bigger through consolidations or mergers. The VW board of supervisors will consider its strategic relationship with Ford on Nov. 16, Reuters reported.
Diess said Ford could provide VW with a global successor to its Amarok pickup, the only body-on-frame light vehicle left among the German automaker’s 300-plus nameplates. But he said it would be up to Keogh to decide whether to give U.S. dealerships a small body-on-frame pickup based on the Ford Ranger or a unibody pickup that would closely follow the Tanoak concept VW unveiled in March at the New York auto show.
“It’s up to Scott,” Diess said. “If the Ford relationship works out well, we would have an Amarok successor, which would be then appropriate for sales worldwide — potentially as well for the United States. The other option is a unibody pickup, which is something for America, which is probably still a bit risky. On the other hand, you have to see that most of the SUVs have been transitioned in the last 20 years” to unibody construction. “I think, at some stage in the [midsize] pickups, the same thing will happen. … I think unibody might make sense.”