Ford’s strategic partnership with Volkswagen extends to commercial vehicles, with Ford building the Amarok pick-up and Transporter van in return, and its new arrangement with Renault extends to LCVs too.
No details have been given, however, beyond the confirmation that the two companies “will explore the opportunity to collaborate” in this area, with the potential to sell Ford- and Renault-badged versions of the same vans.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said: “The strategic partnership with Renault Group marks an important step for Ford and supports our strategy to build a highly efficient and fit-for-the-future business in Europe.
“We will combine Renault Group’s industrial scale and EV assets with Ford’s iconic design and driving dynamics to create vehicles that are fun, capable and distinctly Ford in spirit.”
His counterpart at the Renault Group, François Provost, hailed the agreement as a demonstration of “the strength of our partnership knowhow and competitiveness in Europe”.
The news comes as EU law makers mull delaying a ban on new ICE car sales from 2035 to 2040, in line with adjusted EV adoption forecasts – a move that Farley has said would be crucial to the survival of the region’s car industry.
Writing in the Financial Times earlier this week, Farley said the current framework for decarbonising the European car parc is “out of step with market reality”.
He also attacked the UK’s new pay-per-mile tax on EVs and PHEVs as another example of a counterintuitive measure, comparing it to having “one foot on the gas, one on the brake”.
