The news of an alliance between Volkswagen and Ford, two competitors, may come as a surprise to some. However the move makes good business sense and bodes well for the future successes of both companies.
The motor industry is evolving faster than ever before – with the moves towards technologies such as electric vehicles and autonomous driving. However, the associated development costs can be substantial – and so, sometimes, it makes sense to pool resources.
Of course, these two companies – two of the world’s biggest carmakers – are competitors, and this is highly unlikely to change in the near future. While they may cooperate on some projects (much like Mercedes-Benz and Nissan did in the development of their bakkies), it’s more likely that the two brands will still remain completely separate.
Practically speaking, this means that in South Africa (and in the rest of the world for that matter), we will mostly likely always have two separate companies and two separate dealer networks. It will be unlikely, for instance, to find one dealer selling both Volkswagen and Ford vehicles.
CEO of AutoTrader, George Mienie
