The VW-Ford alliance will end up being more than just trucks
By now you’re likely aware that VW will be starting an $800 million expansion this spring to add electric vehicle capacity to Chattanooga. While $800 million is big money, it barely registers on VW’s global, eight-year $50 billion electrification plan.
Nevertheless, it’ll mean, among other things, about a 30 percent increase in jobs and will bring total investment into the factory to over $2.3 billion. Carmakers are laying off large percentages of their workforce, both domestically and globally, so this is a huge vote of confidence.
You may also have heard that VW and Ford have announced a memorandum of understanding to develop SUVs and pickups jointly.
The Atlas-based VW pickup might be too far along to be retasked onto the new global Ford Ranger platform, but Ford will be making commercial vans and mid-size pickups for the alliance, while VW will contribute a compact urban van, undoubtedly a replacement for the outdated, Turkish-built Ford Transit Connect. VW’s press materials mention the (full size van) Transporter, (Golf platform small van) Caddy, and (body-on-frame pickup) Amarok by name.
So far, that’s standard fare: Toyota’s new Supra is a rebadged BMW Z4; Fiat’s 124 Spider is a Mazda Miata; the Jeep Compass and Fiat 500 share a platform...it’s a long list and there’s nothing unusual about it.
The possibilities of the VW-Ford partnership go far beyond some badge engineering, however, especially where Ford is concerned.
Last May, we talked about Ford getting out of the car business and rebranding itself as a “mobility company”. I was skeptical then and having listened to Ford CEO Jim Hackett flounder around trying to articulate his vision in the months since, my skepticism has matured into scorn.
It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with Hackett’s two-part plan. Part one is to reinvent Ford’s manufacturing and culture as a Silicon Valley-style Technology Company. You know, light and lean and—let me consult some of the buzzwords they used in May—leveraging trusted strengths to refocus and disrupt global brands.
Part two is a little more problematic. Hackett wants Ford vehicles to do...well, a lot of stuff, but it can be summed up easily: Everything your smartphone already does. They are supposed to be networked, use embedded sensors to report on your health status, plan trips…you know, smartphone stuff.
It is a frankly ridiculous proposal, and Ford knows it.
It also relies heavily on the IT infrastructure of electric cars, which is why VW is the winner in the deal. Ford is so desperate to get access to VW’s huge investment that their part of the agreement is largely speculative, because while VW gets access to Ford’s admittedly impressive truck manufacturing capabilities, Ford does not—yet—get a piece of VW’s electric car business.
They have to be hoping they can leverage some portion of the business down the line, however, because for a Technological Mobility Company, they have been painfully slow in rolling out electrics or hybrids of any kind.
VW, by contrast, says that in seven years they will stop introducing internal combustion engines for passenger cars.
Should Ford succeed in glomming on to VW’s EVs, then an electric Ford Transit van built in Chattanooga will be Job One. As Ford sheds jobs and brands around the world at an alarming rate, that may end up being one of the pieces that saves it.
David Traver Adolphus is a freelance automotive researcher who quit his full time job writing about old cars to pursue his lifelong dream of writing about old AND new cars. Follow him on Twitter as @proscriptus.