Ford Exec raises doubts over cooperation with VW

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After VW and Ford signed a letter of intent in January to work more closely together in the future, Ford manager Jim Farley now expresses doubts about the cooperation, at least when it comes to electric vehicles as here, their focus would be very different.

Appearing on a local TV show, Autoline Detroit, Ford’s president of global markets Jim Farley said that the two company’s programmes regarding electric vehicles are out of sync, “almost like snowboarding and skiing.”

While VW’s MEB platform is primarily aimed at low-cost passenger car segments, Ford intends to focus primarily on commercial vehicles and performance models when it comes to electrification. Electrical cooperation is only likely “if we find platforms where it makes sense,” added Farley.

It is however what VW and Ford had planned anyway, that is working together on commercial vehicles. Whether this could include electric vehicles and most of all allow Ford to use VW’s MEB platform had been speculation from the start. Volkswagen had last been reluctant to share their technological advantage embodied in the MEB platform with Ford just yet (we reported). This also seems to be the spirit of the memorandum of understanding they signed in Detroit as it only included the will “to investigate collaboration on autonomous vehicles, mobility services and electric vehicles”.

cnbc.com

Additional reporting by Nora Manthey.

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