[Mediapen=Kim Sang-jun] Volkswagen and Ford are strengthening their alliance to dominate the future auto industry.

According to Reuters, the two automakers announced their partnership to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles. They will be sharing their technology and resources which may dramatically reshape the industry.

Ford will now gain access to Volkswagen’s own developed electric vehicle platform, the Modular Electric Toolkit(MEB). Ford is planning to deploy electric vehicles built with this platform onto European roads starting from 2024. 

Also, Volkswagen plans to invest $3.1 billion in Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle startup supported by Ford. Once Argo completes developing self-driving technology, Volkswagen will realize that technology to build their own electric and self-driving vehicles. This will be more than enough to cover up their costs from investment and platform sharing.

Volkswagen’s first priority will be securing the electric and autonomous vehicle industry in America. Meanwhile, Ford’s plan is to build an electric car that complies with Europe’s strict emission standard and expand its market share in Europe.

It may seem like they are teaming up to expand market share in America and Europe. However, their final target and destination is expected to be the Chinese market.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association(ACEA)’s data show that China is the world’s larget car market with 29.4% market share. This is what Volkswagen and Ford is after. They are spending billions of dollars and sharing technologies to capture the Chinese market.