Landmark in Volkswagen-Ford global alliance: The Volkswagen AG Supervisory Board ap-proved further contracts under the cooperation with Ford Motor Company announced last year. The next milestones in the vehicle projects are anticipated to be implemented in near the future with the signatures of both companies. Three projects in the areas of elec-trification and commercial vehicles are planned to be realized as a first step. The Volkswagen-Ford global alliance – which does not involve cross-ownership between the companies – is expected to create annual efficiencies for each company.
Pending formal completion, the proposed agreement is expected to encompass the following
projects:
- Volkswagen´s Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB) will be used by Ford for an electric vehicle in Europe.
- A midsize pickup developed by Ford and adapted by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in selected markets.
- Two further vehicle projects to be implemented: Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will be responsible for the development of a city delivery van, while Ford will oversee planning for a van in the one-ton loader segment.
Additional projects may follow, as well as the investment in Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle platform company. Through the cooperation, both manufacturers plan to realize significant synergy effects from shared development costs as well as production synergies.