Volkswagen and Ford Motor stated on Tuesday they will join forces on commercial vans and pickups and are looking forward to joint development of electric and self-driving technology, actions supposed to save the automakers billions of dollars.
Ford and VW declared their partnership against the backdrop of the Detroit auto show. The tie-up, which begins with sales of vans and medium-sized pickups in 2022, will not associate a merger or equity stakes, the companies stated.
“It is no secret that our industry is going through fundamental change, resulting from widespread electrification, ever stricter emission regulation, digitization, the shift towards autonomous driving, and not least the changing customer preferences,” Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess informed reporters and analysts on a conference call.
A deal centered around vans and pickups was expected. Investors are now concentrating on the potential for more deals they believe could offer greater savings. Those consists of potential deals around development of electric or self-driving vehicles, together with combining forces in markets such as North America, South America, Europe or China.
The two CEOs did not discuss alliances in particular markets consisting Latin America, where Ford is not earning profit.
