Skip to main content

Ford Wants to Expand Partnership with VW, See Where Things Go

Ford wants the V (W, that is) and it has admitted that it’s in talks to expand its alliance with the German automaker beyond commercial vehicles, reports Automotive News.

“We have a history with VW. We get along with them. And if you look at the strengths and weaknesses of each of us, we match up really, really well,” Bob Shanks, Ford’s CFO, told Automotive News.“In the world we’re in, where the future is so ill-defined because it’s yet to be created, companies are going to have to collaborate more together.”

Ford just wants somebody to lean on. But they recognize that relationships have to be a two-way street.

“We’re having a very broad set of discussions about how we can help each other around the world,” Shanks said. “Collaboration isn’t being limited in any way whatsoever, whether it’s different types of technology, product segments or geography.”

And the strategy may work because Ford knows North America, but has been struggling in Europe and South America—where it has reportedly lost more than $4 billion since 2012. Everybody has baggage, but Ford’s stock is on the rise.

The company revealed its stock rose almost 10% recently on the heels of stronger than expected earnings. And even though it’s backing away from margin targets it set for 2020, it’s still committed to lowering costs and improving itself.

“We look forward to sharing more about this global redesign of the company,” said Ford CEO, Jim Hackett, during Ford’s earnings call. “We are going to be coming to you more frequently, including we’re going to talk about these strategic partnerships in the near future.”

Just what the future will look like, though, is still a little fuzzy. But Ford doesn’t want to define things yet. Can’t the companies just get together and see where things go?

“We haven’t put boundary conditions in terms of where we could collaborate,” Shanks said. “We’re looking at the strengths and the gaps of each company on both sides of the table and trying to understand how we can help each other.”

That said, Ford is trying–working as hard as it can to figure something out and is promising to know what it wants in the near future.

“Starting next year, the picture will start to come more and more into focus,” Shanks said. “It’s something that won’t be a big bang. It will be done as fast as we possibly can, but it will be done in chunks and pieces.”

[source: Automotive News]

The post Ford Wants to Expand Partnership with VW, See Where Things Go appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2JiSRqL
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Audi Teases A7 Details with New Video

Audi’s gearing up to unveil the latest iteration of the A7, and to get you excited they’ve released this teaser video focusing on the details. The lights, the lines, the interior are all teased here, and though on its own the video doesn’t give us a strong sense of what the whole car will look like, with all of the other details we’ve seen so far we now have a pretty good sense of what’s coming. As you might expect, the updated A7 will look broadly similar to the outgoing A7, but will differ in the details. Based on what we’ve seen, the changes look good. As was reported yesterday, we’re expecting a 3.0-liter turbocharged engine, a 4.0-liter V8 twin-turbo, a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6, and an RS7 that could reportedly make up to 700 hp thanks to the Porsche Panamera’s hybrid drivetrain. We’ll know for sure, though, on Thursday, October 19, when the car is revealed. You can watch the livestream on our site or at audi.com at 2:00 pm. The post Audi Teases A7 Details with New Video app...
Post a Comment
Read more