Ford and Volkswagen have provided even more information about their strategic partnership that was signed two years ago, which was later extended in 2019. It was previously known that companies will focus on commercial vehicles, electric vehicles and self-driving vehicles, but we’re now getting the finer details of the alliance.
Under the partnership, Ford will engineer and build a pick-up truck as well as a one-tonne commercial van, while Volkswagen will develop a smaller city van, with the projects set to be shared by both. All in all, both companies expect to produce up to a combined eight million of the three commercial vehicles.
On Ford’s part, the next-generation Ranger will form the basis of the next Amarok that will arrive in 2022. In a less distant future, the Blue Oval will also ready a successor to the current Transit that Volkswagen will adopt as the Transporter, while the German automaker’s Caddy city van will be taken in by Ford to be the smaller Transit Connect.
Aside from commercial vehicles, Ford will also build an EV for Europe using Volkswagen’s electric MEB platform, which is already being used for the ID.3. The EV is set to arrive by 2023 and will help expand the American carmaker’s zero-emission offerings in the region.
Despite the intertwining relationship between the companies, both are adamant that no cross-ownership will occur and they will remain competitors. As such, the next generations of the Ranger and Amarok will compete against one another, and this will extend to the other products planned. In any case, the partnership will help both when it comes to saving costs and increasing efficiency.
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