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Volkswagen Amarok: Replacement may be based on Ford Ranger

Utes, and small commercial vehicles could be shared between the two automakers


Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen Group, has provided a few more details about the ongoing partnership talks between the German automaker and Ford.

In an interview with Automotive News, Diess said Ford may supply Volkswagen with a successor to the Amarok ute.

Should the two companies come to an arrangement regarding their global utes, it's not known when the Amarok will shift onto the Ranger platform. The Amarok went on sale around the world in 2010, while the current T6 Ranger started trundling down the production line in 2011.

The Ranger had a facelift in 2015, and was recently re-engineered for the North American market, with sales slated to begin there in 2019.

The Volkswagen CEO stated the main focus of discussions so far has been the "small commercial vehicles business in Europe", where the two automakers believe there are "huge synergies" to be had.

"[In that segment] we are both relatively small in size against our peers, so what we're talking about is sharing a few platforms and manufacturing sites there," Diess said.

Diess went on to praise the long history of collaboration between Ford and Volkswagen, especially their previous joint ventures in Europe and South America.

As has been previously reported, Diess said Volkswagen is open to licensing its upcoming fully electric MEB platform with other car makers, including Ford, to allow for increased economies of scale.

Volkswagen and Ford signed a memorandum of understanding in June, enabling the automakers to investigate joint development of commercial vehicle platforms and models.

Late last month Ford's chief financial officer stated publicly "collaboration isn’t being limited in any way whatsoever, whether it’s different types of technology, product segments or geography", thereby opening up the possibility the two car makers could work together on passenger vehicles too.

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