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.”