Does Ford’s New Partner Leave VW Cold?
- Adam Bernard
- Dec 9, 2025
- 2 min read
Surprise!
I was interviewed for a podcast yesterday and asked if I had ever been surprised in the 25 years I spent in the competitor intelligence space. The best example that came to mind was the DaimlerChrysler merger , which I heard announced on the radio while driving into work — shortly before I was supposed to give a presentation to several hundred people on Chrysler’s potential future.
Today’s announcement about Ford and Renault was definitely a surprise. Sure, Ford has made no secret about looking for partners — and they’re already connected with VW Group on EVs and commercial vehicles. Beyond the rather vaguely worded press release, Autocar and AutoExpress appear to have fleshed out some of the details, and here’s what it looks like:
🔸 Ford gets a Fiesta replacement off the new in 2028
🔸 Ford gets a second new EV shortly after that, either a small SUV (Puma Gen-E replacement?) based on the , or a Focus replacement off the
🔸 The two brands will collaborate on commercial vehicles
The new EVs sound similar to Ford’s approach with VW: reskinning the MEB platform to create and . Unfortunately, while VW sold about 85K ID.4s in Europe in H1 2025, combined Explorer and Capri sales were less than a third of that. One hopes that whatever Ford executes off Renault’s Ampere Small platform will be more successful.
The commercial vehicle tie-up is more confusing because VW is already rather closely integrated into Ford’s portfolio. The Ford Transit Connect is a rebadged VW Caddy, the VW Transporter is a rebadged Ford Transit Custom, and the VW Amarok is built off the Ford Ranger. That leaves the large Transit and small Transit Courier as Ford’s only unpaired commercial vehicles. Renault currently doesn’t offer an entry below the Kangoo, so perhaps a rebadged Transit Courier is in their future…
Back in 2023, the Financial Times said Ford was planning to back away from its VW Group partnership on EVs. We haven’t heard any news on the future of this collaboration since then, but it looks like Ford is still looking for partners. I think there is some potential upside here, but it’s a bit too early to tell.
Finally, let’s not forget VW Group is on the cusp of launching its portfolio (ID Cross, ID Polo, Raval, and Epiq). I suspect if the VW-Ford relationship was strong, Ford would have been knocking on VW’s door to use that platform instead of running to Renault…
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