Ford-VW Joint Venture Details Finalized, Here’s What’s Coming

Two years ago, Ford and VW announced they'd explore the possibility of jointly developing vehicles. A year later, they expanded their partnership, and today, the two detail the specifics. Ford will engineer and build a midsize pickup and a one-ton commercial van for the two while VW will develop the smaller city van for the two. The two will also partner on autonomous and electric vehicles. We knew early on that the partnership would focus on commercial vehicles, self-driving cars, and EVs, but today, the details paint a better picture of what to expect.

Ford is currently working on the next-generation Ranger, and it will underpin the next-gen VW Amarok that'll arrive in 2022. It won't be the only vehicle released, though. As early as next year, we could see the two commercial vans arrive, too. The smaller city van will be based on the latest VW Caddy model, while the one-ton cargo van is likely a replacement for the Ford Transit. Ford will also build an electric vehicle for Europe using Volkswagen's electric MEB platform.

Eight million vans and trucks could be produced over the products' life cycles, according to the companies. That doesn't include the estimated 600,000-plus EVs Ford could build every year, either. Last week, Volkswagen completed a $2.6 billion deal with Argo AI, and both automakers will work with the company, which has commercial deployment plans for its self-driving system for both Europe and the US.

While the joint venture has the two companies sharing products and technologies, the partnership doesn't include cross-ownership. The press release detailing the agreement says the two will remain competitors. That means the next-gen Ford Ranger will compete directly against the next-gen VW Amarok, even though Ford will engineer and build both. Either way, the deal should help the companies find and exploit efficiencies, playing to the strengths of each while saving some cash, as well.