Ford poised to announce alliance with Volkswagen

Bloomberg

Ford Motor Co’s Jim Hackett isn’t pleased with how things are going at the automaker he took charge of a year and a half ago. To afford the costly overhaul he’s embarking on, he’s on the verge of broadening an alliance with Volkswagen AG.
“I want to tell you, I’m not happy about Ford’s performance” in 2018, Hackett said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “I mean, that should just be said.”
Ford has started an $11 billion restructuring and earmarked a combined $15 billion in investment towards electrified and driverless cars in the coming years. The automaker is poised to announce broader cooperation with VW on Tuesday after months of talks on sharing the costs of bringing new models, battery-powered vehicles and self-driving technology to market, people familiar with the negotiations have said.
Asked why Ford may partner with VW, Hackett said the high cost of fielding competitive new models and preparing for the autonomous age requires working with rivals.
“Being able to fund both the change in the old and the new is why I’ve thought about other partners to do that,” the chief executive officer said on the eve of the main press day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.