The Ford-VW Alliance under increased pressure from other automakers



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(Bloomberg) – The alliance between Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG, which will soon expand, could transform the global automotive industry and increase pressure on other manufacturers developing electric and autonomous cars.

By possibly licensing its electric vehicle platform to Ford, VW could guarantee a share of the benefits of electric vehicles next year and gain "an indisputable market advantage," said Angus Tweedie, an analyst at Citigroup. In return, Credit Suisse analysts said VW could provide "crucial public validation" for Ford's autonomous vehicle sector, including the Argo AI partner.

Ford and VW have scheduled a press conference Friday in New York at 8 pm to inform alliance investors that they have formalized in January. Both sides are expected to expand existing cooperation on commercial vehicles and intermediate trucks to also include joint work on self-driving technology and electric car, said people familiar with the discussions.

Ford and VW representatives declined to comment before Friday's press conference with managing directors Jim Hackett and Herbert Diess. Ford's shares rose 0.4% to $ 10.15 at 1:25 pm Thursday in New York.

Ford could exploit its access to the architecture of VW's electric car to comply with stricter European emission rules, said Tweedie of Citi. The US automaker could make "cost-plus-cost" payments to VW in the order of 400 million euros ($ 450 million) in 2020 alone, he said.

According to Credit Suisse, a broader alliance between the two companies could combine the power of VW in electric vehicles with that of Ford in autonomous vehicles, allowing both countries to "face these challenges more effectively in terms of capital". seek more synergies "to stay competitive, wrote Daniel Schwarz's analysts in a report.

"VW's investment in Ford's AV business would provide a crucial public validation data point (similar to SoftBank's investment in GM Cruise), and could only be the beginning of the external capital of AV's business. Ford, "said Schwarz. VW and Ford are the main choice of auto stocks by Credit Suisse analysts in Europe and the United States.

(Updates with company notices in the third paragraph.)

– With the help of Keith Naughton and Christoph Rauwald.

To contact the reporter about this story: Kyle Lahucik in Southfield at [email protected]

To contact the editors in charge of this story: Craig Trudell at [email protected], Anthony Palazzo at [email protected], Chester Dawson

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