Today, Ford and Volkswagen announced that they partnered together in a “global alliance” and it includes a deal to explore partnering on electric vehicles.
The official deal is focused on “develop commercial vans and medium-sized pickups for global markets beginning as early as 2022”, but they are considering expanding it to EVs and other new technologies.
They wrote in a press release:
“In addition, Volkswagen and Ford have signed a memorandum of understanding to investigate collaboration on autonomous vehicles, mobility services and electric vehicles and have started to explore opportunities. Both companies also said they were open to considering additional vehicle programs in the future. The teams will continue working through details in the coming months.”
There’s no timeline for when this investigation is going to result in anything.
Electrek’s Take
There have been rumors for a while that Ford could end up using VW’s upcoming MEB platform for its upcoming electric vehicles.
It sounds like they are definitely talking about it, but they are not ready to confirm anything.
I am surprised that two giants like Ford and VW feel the need to cooperate in this landscape. They really can’t do it on their own?
Ford certainly seems to be behind in all-electric vehicle with their first fully electric vehicle built to be electric from the ground up slated for 2020.
They could probably use VW’s MEB platform to accelerate some EV programs while VW might want Ford’s help when it comes to pickup trucks.
If they are partnering on commercial vehicles and pickup trucks, how about partnering on making them electric?
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