Ford Motor and Volkswagen are joining hands to build commercial vans and medium-sized pickup trucks as early as 2022.
The partnership, announced Tuesday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, is expected to bolster annual pre-tax operating results for both companies from 2023. Additionally, the automakers inked a "memorandum of understanding" to collaborate on self-driving vehicle research.
But the two firms will not buy ownership stakes in each other. Ford CEO Jim Hackett said, "Ford and Volkswagen will continue operating as two separate and competitive entities".