- General
- June 27, 2019
- 5 minutes read
VW And Ford’s Partnership Could Be Expanded
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess image: Volkswagen According to a Bloomberg report, Volkswagen’s supervisory board plans to talk through and maybe agree to…
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| Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess
image: Volkswagen
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According to a Bloomberg report, Volkswagen’s supervisory board plans to talk through and maybe agree to next steps on expanding its partnership with Ford at a meeting scheduled to hold in two weeks time. The report says a previously announced partnership on vans and pickup trucks could be bind at the meeting scheduled on the 11th of July and that the partnership could potentially expand into development of self-driving and electric-car technology.
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess previously said the German automaker was not yet committed to working on self-driving technology with Ford but this may change after the board meeting scheduled to hold soon. Both automakers were also previously reported to be in disagreement over an investment in Ford’s self-driving unit. Ford was said to be seeking at least $500 million after earlier seeking a billion dollars but was met with resistance from Volkswagen.
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| A Ford self-driving vehicle undergoes testing at night
image: Ford
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Nevertheless, later reports hinted progress in discussions of a self-driving partnership, with one from Bloomberg reporting that both automakers discussed a $4 billion valuation for Ford’s Argo self-driving unit. Collaborating with Ford is part of Volkswagen’s plan to split high costs required to develop new automotive technologies.
Other automakers have also sealed partnerships to split costs and also benefit from joint expertise required to develop new technologies. One example is BMW and Jaguar Land Rover’s recent collaboration on electric-car technology.
