Ford and Volkswagen have announced that the two automakers have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore a strategic alliance that will make both of them more competitive.
While the Ford and VW have signed an agreement, neither automaker has released any big details about what they could team up on, other than a lineup of new commercial vehicles. There is one thing that the agreement is clear on though, the new alliance will not involve equity arrangements, including cross ownership stakes.
“Ford is committed to improving our fitness as a business and leveraging adaptive business models – which include working with partners to improve our effectiveness and efficiency,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s president of Global Markets. “This potential alliance with the Volkswagen Group is another example of how we can become more fit as a business, while creating a winning global product portfolio and extending our capabilities.”
“Markets and customer demand are changing at an incredible speed. Both companies have strong and complementary positions in different commercial vehicle segments already. To adapt to the challenging environment, it is of utmost importance to gain flexibility through alliances,” stated Dr. Thomas Sedran, Head of Volkswagen Group Strategy. “This is a core element of our Volkswagen Group Strategy 2025. The potential industrial cooperation with Ford is seen as an opportunity to improve competitiveness of both companies globally.”
Source: Ford and Volkswagen
