Volkswagen AG (
www.volkswagenag.com) and Ford (
www.ford.com) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, with a view to forming a strategic alliance designed to strengthen their global competitiveness.
They are considering potential projects in a number of areas, including developing a range of commercial vehicles together.
Jim Farley, Ford’s president of global markets, said: “Ford is committed to improving its fitness as a business and leveraging adaptive business models; this includes working with partners to improve our effectiveness and efficiency.
"This potential alliance with Volkswagen is another example of how we can become more fit as a business, while creating a winning global product portfolio and extending our capabilities.
"We look forward to exploring with the Volkswagen team how we might work together to better serve the evolving needs of commercial-vehicle customers — and much more.”
Thomas Sedran, head of Volkswagen Group strategy, said: “Markets and customer demand are changing at an incredible speed. Both companies already have strong positions in different commercial-vehicle segments.
"To adapt to the challenging environment, it is of the utmost importance to gain flexibility through alliances.
"The potential co-operation with Ford is seen as an opportunity to improve the competitiveness of both companies globally.”