NDTV : Jul 13, 2019, 01:27 PM
Ford and Volkswagen have collaborated to work on future technologies and will be developing new autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles. Ford has confirmed that it will use Volkswagen's electric vehicle architecture and Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB) to develop at least one high-volume fully electric vehicle for the European market and will manufacture 600,000 electric vehicles on the MEB platform. Ford is planning to roll out new products of the MEB platform by 2023 as it is betting on Volkswagen's vast scale. According to the agreement, the German carmaker will supply MEB parts and components."Looking ahead, even more customers and the environment will benefit from Volkswagen's industry-leading EV architecture. Our global alliance is beginning to demonstrate even greater promise, and we are continuing to look at other areas on which we might collaborate," Herbert Diess, CEO, Volkswagen Group said. "Scaling our MEB drives down development costs for zero-emissions vehicles, allowing for a broader and faster global adoption of electric vehicles. This improves the positions of both companies through greater capital efficiency, further growth and improved competitiveness," he addedReplying to the media in the joint press conference, Diess also said that MEB is aimed at the Chinese and European market as both are big market for EVs with the highest conversion rate. The agreement with Ford has further strengthened Volkswagen's electric strategy and supports the growth of the e-mobility industry on a global level.