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Ford sees VW cooperation helping with small cars, overseas markets


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http://www.autonews.com/article/20181026/COPY01/310269966

 

Ford is in serious negotiations with Volkswagen Group to broaden their alliance beyond commercial vehicles in ways that would help Ford reverse losses in Europe and South America and share costs of costly technology and small cars.

 

"We're having a very broad set of discussions about how we can help each other around the world, Bob Shanks, Ford's chief financial officer, said in an interview Thursday. "Collaboration isn't being limited in any way whatsoever, whether its different types of technology, product segments or geography."

 

So what I see coming out of this:

 

Some sort of agreement in South America/Europe to merge resources

 

Sharing of A/B class product platforms with Mahindra also

 

Maybe merging of C class product down the road

 

Ford providing mid-sized trucks and vans to VW.

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http://www.autonews.com/article/20181026/COPY01/310269966

 

 

So what I see coming out of this:

 

Some sort of agreement in South America/Europe to merge resources

 

Sharing of A/B class product platforms with Mahindra also

 

Maybe merging of C class product down the road

 

Ford providing mid-sized trucks and vans to VW.

I could also see joint battery plants and collaboration on self driving software and sensors.

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Just dont bring a mutt of a car here. Thats all we need is a u-boat mixed in with the troubles we already have. All I can think about is Chrysler crossfire. Talk about a disaster when trying to get parts and service. I envision another jaguar x type! Ugh! Or even a merkur! VW is the German car I hate the most to work on. My list for repair ability is worst to best, VW,BMW, then Mercedes.

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I think "One Ford" is about to go to the dumpster and be replaced by "Two Fords",

One that North Americans see and assume that everyone else in the world gets

and the other a hodge podge of vehicles that only a gallon of gas would fix.

 

Ultimately, Jim Hackett painted himself into a corner by setting a goal of 8% return

across the entire company - even with the strongest, "fitness programs", that was

never going to happen, it was always going to come down to either a strong alliance

with lots of outsourcing of each other's vehicles or just close them down and walk away.

Edited by jpd80
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Well, I wouldn't say "One Ford" is gone. The platforms will still be common. However regionalized versions will exist. NA wants steel bumpers on the Ranger. Ecosport for India will have something for them. Etc...

With respect, you're looking at this through American eyes and what you see around you,

that won't change because there's no major issue in your market.

 

For the rest of us, Ranger and Transit will stay / get better but everything else will be changed

and it has to be this way because a lot of Ford's ROW car / utility offering simply don't appeal

to enough buyers and don't make any money for Ford. A lot of ROW Ford will become VW based

and with that, they will lose that unique Ford identity/feel.....

Edited by jpd80
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I had a couple friend make comments at how terrible the electrical systems are on VW based products-hopefully maybe Ford can help them.

Electronics in general are not German strong suits. We had a Mercedes service dept @ the dealer I worked at as a young man. I'll bet 50% of the cars were in there for electrical issues. This was in the mid 80's & I'm pretty sure things have not gotten better.

Edited by 351cid
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I think the collaboration will primary center on cheap cars for Europe and South America.

 

Ford is doing fairly well in Europe with Fiesta and Focus... they are brand new products so they will go on their customary 8 year model cycles. After that, everything will be electric anyway so it's entirely too early to predict what will become of them.

 

Ka/Figo and EcoSport are the only products where replacement cycle will line up with VW. In Europe, VW has Up!, which is too expensive and needlessly fussy. And Ford is a minor player with Ka+. In South America, VW is dominant player with Gol and all of its derivatives. Ford Ka is barely a blip. The reverse is true in CUV, Ford EcoSport dominates while VW is struggling to figure out what to do (although the new T-Cross is probably headed to South America). If VW and Ford put their resources together, they can probably come up with a cheap platform solution for Europe and South America, similar to the Renault's Dacia cars, or GM's comparable offerings.

 

Both companies are going to focus their resources on EVs and winning the future. So they will merge a lot of their low margin business like the cheap cars in Europe and South America to save capital and engineering talents for the EVs (and money making stuff like trucks, SUVs, and luxury brands). Ford is already doing something similar in India and China with Mahindra and Zoyte so the VW partnership is not all that different.

Edited by bzcat
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I agree with you.

 

Right now, I can see Ford using VW's A0 MQB platform and current plants in Brazil to produce a Polo-based Ka and a TCross-based Ecosport.

But what to do with Camaçari plant in Bahia? It is a relatively modern plant, surely will not be closed... Would they be willing to eventually share the costs to upgrade it to C2 and produce simplified C-cars, such as a next generation Escort?

Focus and Golf have become too expensive/unattractive and I do not see electric cars getting popular in South America soon, so they will still need low cost alternatives to those in the next generation.

 

PS1: Do not underestimate Ka's sucess in South America: it is currently Brazil's second best selling vehicle (GM Onix is #1).

PS2. Do not overestimate Ecosport's either: although a big hit until a few years ago, the arrival of competitors took away its hype.

 

 

 

I think the collaboration will primary center on cheap cars for Europe and South America.

 

Ford is doing fairly well in Europe with Fiesta and Focus... they are brand new products so they will go on their customary 8 year model cycles. After that, everything will be electric anyway so it's entirely too early to predict what will become of them.

 

Ka/Figo and EcoSport are the only products where replacement cycle will line up with VW. In Europe, VW has Up!, which is too expensive and needlessly fussy. And Ford is a minor player with Ka+. In South America, VW is dominant player with Gol and all of its derivatives. Ford Ka is barely a blip. The reverse is true in CUV, Ford EcoSport dominates while VW is struggling to figure out what to do (although the new T-Cross is probably headed to South America). If VW and Ford put their resources together, they can probably come up with a cheap platform solution for Europe and South America, similar to the Renault's Dacia cars, or GM's comparable offerings.

 

Both companies are going to focus their resources on EVs and winning the future. So they will merge a lot of their low margin business like the cheap cars in Europe and South America to save capital and engineering talents for the EVs (and money making stuff like trucks, SUVs, and luxury brands). Ford is already doing something similar in India and China with Mahindra and Zoyte so the VW partnership is not all that different.

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The costs associated with developing and producing vehicles is crippling Ford Europe, they just don't make

enough money off those vehicles and that's even with all those Vignale and ST versions that Ford used to brag about..

Edited by jpd80
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