Ford and Volkswagen are not turning out to be BFFs

Ford and Volkswagen have been working closely together for some time to produce commercial vehicles, pickup trucks and electric cars. Best friends forever? No, this cooperation will not last very long.

This is now the result of a conversation that Martin Sander, EV boss at Ford, u automobile week had with each other. His brand does not want to rely too much on the electrical engineering from Wolfsburg and will therefore use its own platform for its cars at some point.

MEB

According to Sander, the EV collaboration is primarily a way to facilitate the transition to our own platform. Ford will soon unveil two electric cars on Volkswagen’s MEB platform, but that’s about it. From 2026, she wants to build 600,000 electric cars per year in Europe, preferably using her own technology.

It remains to be seen what Ford plans to do next. Work is currently underway to prepare the Cologne plant for the production of the first “MEB car”. This will be a crossover in the spirit of the Volkswagen ID.4. The compact Ford Puma also gets an electric brother.

Valencia

The brand is also building a production facility in Valencia, Spain. From there they run away with a platform that is only intended for electric cars. “However, we don’t know at the moment when we will do that and which cars we will build there,” says Sander.

In any case, Ford wants to offer only electric cars by 2030. There’s a good chance that famous names from the past will be used to establish a new range of electric models. Of course, he already did that with the Mustang, which was the name of the brand’s first electric car.

Ford Capri

The manufacturer has also breathed new life into the Puma name. This designation returned to Ford’s compact crossover a few years ago, while the original Puma was a compact coupe. Perhaps Ford is doing the same with names like Capri, Sierra and Escort. Whether the Fiesta returns is also the question. Late last year Ford announced it would discontinue the popular hatchback, but it seems obvious that the Fiesta name will be used for an upcoming electric hatchback.

The fact that the collaboration between Volkswagen and Ford on electric cars is coming to an end does not immediately mean that the collaboration on commercial vehicles will also end.