Ford and Volkswagen signed off on a landmark partnership agreement back in June 2020 – though discussions began years prior – that has since resulted in multiple collaborative efforts. That includes a pair of all-electric crossovers built on Volkswagen’s MEB platform – one of which, the Ford Explorer EV, has already been revealed, and is quite a bit different than the VW ID.4 – but given The Blue Oval’s desire to create its own dedicated EV platforms moving forward, the future of this relationship was somewhat in doubt. However, VW Group CEO Oliver Blume recently stated that its partnership with Ford will only continue to grow, and just revealed that he once again met with FoMoCo CEO Jim Farley to discuss this future.
#VWGroup & #Ford: a strong partnership for commercial vehicles & electrification! That’s what our CEO Blume & @jimfarley98 underlined again.
First projects: VW Amarok, Ford Tourneo Connect, VW Transporter, Ford Explorer.
Aim: driving customer experience & cost-efficiency. pic.twitter.com/vxEKgmrlAI
— Volkswagen Group (@VWGroup) May 25, 2023
The VW Group CEO noted that its partnership with Ford in regards to building commercial vehicles and EVs remains strong, and noted that as was originally the case, the main driving factor behind teaming up is to drive down costs and improve the overall customer experience. “It’s great to see how the partnership with Ford evolves and how the win-win-approach of our alliance is increasingly paying off,” Blume said. I’m looking forward to the continued cooperation with Jim and the whole Ford team.” “Our collaboration with VW Group will accelerate the success of our Ford+ plan and give us significant advantages in serving our European customers,” Farley added. “I was glad to meet with Oliver and discuss our plans to continue innovating together.”
Aside from the aforementioned MEB-based crossovers, the partnership between FoMoCo and Volkswagen has already produced the next-generation Amarok pickup – which is based on the new Ford Ranger – as well as the Tourneo Connect based on the VW Caddy, the Transit Connect, which will live on as a rebadged Volkswagen model, and VW’s Transporter van, which is built by Ford Otosan in Turkey. Additionally, Ford and Volkswagen are teaming up with each other and a number of other countries in an effort to boost the Indonesian EV battery supply chain.
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Comments
A full merger may be a good idea. VW has no light trucks and FORD has no sedans.
VWs are garbage
Like I said, it may be a good fit. FORD is garbage too so how could it get worse? 🙂
German complexity and Ford quality. What could possibly go wrong?
A merger with VW would mean the end of Lincoln. Not happening. PAG with jaguar was enough to ruin Lincoln the last time. Time to invest in real Lincoln vehicles again and forget the last 20 years. Pick up from the MK8, LS and Navigator and pretend nothing in-between happened.
That CONTINENTAL that many people hated so much was a nice car. They should have had the COACH DOOR version as standard.