VW and Ford tie-up

RIVAL car makers Volkswagen and Ford are set to collaborate in a bid to cut costs and stave off competition.

The German and US companies are exploring projects such as developing vans together.

Bosses described the move as a strategic alliance, and ruled out taking a stake in each other’s companies. Ford’s best- selling vans include the Transit, while Volkswagen owns the Scania brand.

Jim Farley, Ford’s president of global markets, the firm is ‘committed to improving our fitness as a business and leveraging adaptive business models – which include working with partners’.