Ford Rival GM Will Jointly Develop Pickup With Hyundai

Ford’s crosstown rival, General Motors, is joining forces with an unlikely ally, Hyundai. Through this partnership, GM and Hyundai will develop and produce a pickup with the Latin American market in mind, one that will eventually rival the Ford Ranger.

As reported by our sister publication, GM Authority, Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung met with GM CEO Mary Barra stateside to discuss the project. The automakers will collaborate on a “badge engineering” – or rebadging in the colloquial – approach. At this time, it’s not clear which of the duo will be responsible for manufacturing the forthcoming pickup, but it’s likely that it will be sold under both the GM and Hyundai umbrellas.

The partnership will not only help both automakers expand their reach into more global markets, but it will help keep development costs down as they both will shoulder the burden.

“GM and Hyundai have complementary strengths and talented teams,” Barra said. “Our goal is to unlock the scale and creativity of both companies to deliver even more competitive vehicles to customers faster and more efficiently.”

It’s likely that the Hyundai/GM pickup will replace an existing model in Latin America, taking the place of either the Chevy S10 Max or Chevy D-Max, both of which are badge engineered. Whatever the case, the pickup will seek to chip away at the Ranger’s stronghold in the midsize pickup segment. FoMoCo itself recently announced it will ramp up production of the Ranger to pace unprecedented demand.

Ford is no stranger to partnering with other automakers. In fact, The Blue Oval is using the Ford T6 Platform to build the Ranger based the Volkswagen Amarok pickup, and just this year, the automakers announced that Ford would begin building the VW Transporter in late 2024. VW CEO Oliver Blume is thus far pleased with the Ford partnership, and expects their relationship to continue to grow.