New York (AFP)

US automakers Ford and German Volkswagen announced Friday to expand their alliance, formed in January, the development of autonomous and electric cars, considered the next eldorado of the automobile.

This partnership, however, excludes an exchange of cross-shareholdings, made it clear in a joint statement, the two groups, who are already working together in the production of vans, utilities and commercial pickups.

In the autonomous car, Volkswagen will invest a total of $ 2.6 billion in Argo AI, the autonomous car development subsidiary of its American rival Ford.

This investment, which will be in the form of a billion dollars in cash and the integration in Argo AI of AID, a subsidiary of Volkswagen's autonomous technologies, will boost Ford's subsidiary to more than 7 billion, say the two automobile giants.

They will be equal shareholders in Argo AI, Volkswagen has committed to buy shares in Ford for $ 500 million over three years, while the blue oval brand will finalize the remaining investments ( 600 million) promised to the startup.

This partnership "will allow us to show the power of our global alliance in the era of smart vehicles," said Jim Hackett, CEO of Ford, quoted in the statement.

In the electrical industry, the alliance expects Ford to use the MEB platform, the technical base common to all Volkswagen's new electric cars, to build its own models for the European market.

The first Ford car to be assembled will be marketed in Europe from 2023, with the goal of producing 600,000 vehicles over 6 years.

Ford and Volkswagen are also discussing the possibility that the US group will produce a second model on this SEM platform.

- Culture shock? -

The strengthened alliance between Ford and Volkswagen reflects the ongoing transformation of the automotive sector, which is shaken by electric and autonomous technologies, considered the next eldorado of the automotive industry.

These technologies, however, require large investments in the billions of dollars. And in order to limit the risks and remain a major player, especially in the face of the offensive of the high-tech giants (Waymo, born at Google), or those of the sharing economy like Uber, the manufacturers forge of new alliances.

Honda has invested in Cruise, the General Motors (GM) autonomous car development subsidiary, while the Italian-American group Fiat Chrysler and French Renault have recently tried to merge without success.

"Ford and Volkswagen need to cooperate on autonomous vehicles, which is a very expensive technology for the future, and we have to invest today to cash in the first receipts in 2030," said Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, director Center for automotive research (CAR) based in Germany.

The Ford-Volkswagen cooperation is welcome for the two giants, who are currently undergoing restructuring.

"Ford Europe's passenger car branch can not survive in electric mobility without the support of an ally, because Ford has no electric model in the hoses in Europe", continues Mr. Dudenhöffer, while the American group has just announced thousands of job cuts and plant closures on the Old Continent.

As for Volkswagen, it should take advantage of large volumes of Ford in Europe to achieve economies of scale in commercial vehicles and Ford would also help it to strengthen in the United States, where its market share is low and where its reputation has been tarnished by the scandal of faked diesel engines.

Analysts do not rule out failures because of differences in culture, but do not rule out such partnerships.

"Cross-cultural understanding is crucial - can Wolfsburg (VW headquarters) and Dearborn (Ford headquarters) get along?" Is the question, "says Ferdinand Dudenhöffer.

In the past, the Volkswagen-Suzuki Motors partnership ended in the courts, even before the first joint vehicle was produced, while the Daimler-Chrysler and Opel-GM cooperations were failures.

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, who was in charge last year, promised to open the German group to cooperation.

And to dispel the doubts, Volkswagen and Ford emphasize having already worked together in South America and Portugal.

© 2019 AFP