Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen AG have signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic alliance and are exploring the joint development of a range of commercial vehicles. The potential alliance would not involve equity arrangements, including cross ownership stakes.
Jim Farley, president of global markets, Ford, said: “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. This potential alliance with the Volkswagen Group is an example of how we can become more fit as a business, while creating a winning global product portfolio and extending our capabilities.”
Dr. Thomas Sedran, head of strategy, Volkswagen Group, said, “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. This is a core element of our Volkswagen Group Strategy 2025. The potential industrial cooperation with Ford is seen as an opportunity to improve competitiveness of both companies globally.”
