Addleshaw Goddard has advised Volkswagen AG on an agreement to supply electric vehicle platforms with Ford, announced today. Part of a wider global alliance to work together on commercial and other vehicles, this is a significant deal between two major automotive companies on electric cars. 

Under the terms of today's announcement, Ford will become the first additional automaker to use Volkswagen’s dedicated electric vehicle architecture and Modular Electric Toolkit – or MEB – to deliver a high-volume zero-emission vehicle in Europe starting in 2023.

Ford expects to deliver more than 600,000 European vehicles using the MEB architecture over six years, with a second all-new Ford model for European customers under discussion. Volkswagen started developing its MEB architecture in 2016, investing approximately $7 billion in this platform. The car-maker is planning to use this platform to build approximately 15 million cars for the Volkswagen Group alone in the next decade.

The deal does not involve cross-ownership and the two companies will continue to function separately, but does enable both to make significant efficiencies. 

The AG team is led by Fiona Ghosh, Paul Dight and Ellen Beardsworth.

Fiona Ghosh, leading AG's team, said: "As two of the largest automotive manufacturers in the world, with over 20% of the global auto market between them, this deal has the potential to change the automotive landscape. Today's announcement is a game-changer for the electric vehicle sector. Last year sales of electric vehicles in Europe reached 1 million and we can expect to see that figure significantly increase in the future. It is fantastic for AG to be able to bring our knowledge and expertise to helping drive deals of this global reach and scale."