Ford Motor Co. has 75 plants worldwide manufacturing cars, trucks, and SUVs.
Ford Motor Co. has 75 plants worldwide manufacturing cars, trucks, and SUVs.
Ford Motor Co. has 75 plants worldwide manufacturing cars, trucks, and SUVs.
Ford Motor Co. has 75 plants worldwide manufacturing cars, trucks, and SUVs.
Ford Motor Co. has 75 plants worldwide manufacturing cars, trucks, and SUVs.

Ford, VW Working Together on Commercial Vehicles

June 19, 2018
Prospective partners seeking global growth opportunities, with no equity investments, no cross-ownership stakes

Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG confirmed their intention to co-develop and –manufacture transport vans, commercial vehicles capable of carrying passengers or goods. The two OEMs reached a "memorandum of understanding" that will evaluate several projects, and promised to issue further updates on their efforts as the discussions proceed.

“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,” according to Jim Farley, Ford’s president of Global Markets.

The goal will not be a joint venture and will not involve "equity arrangements" or "cross-ownership stakes," according to the statement released by Ford and VW. Rather, they aim to apply their respective capabilities "to strengthen each company’s competitiveness."

Presumably, Ford and VW would share development and production costs for the transport van vehicles they have identified as their market opportunity.

“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,” commented Dr. Thomas Sedran, head of Volkswagen Group Strategy.

Latest from News