Global carmakers Volkswagen and Ford are the latest to  pool resources as the industry preps for the disruptive pivot towards electric vehicles.

Germany’s Volkswagen Group – which owns Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda and Volkswagen – and US-based Ford say the tie-up will develop commercial vans and medium-sized pickups for global markets from 2022.

The alliance doesn’t involve cross-ownership between the two companies.

Volkswagen and Ford may also collaborate on autonomous vehicles, mobility services and EVs and “have started to explore opportunities” already, Volkswagen told investors.

“Both companies also said they were open to considering additional vehicle programs in the future,” the carmaker said.

“[We] will continue working through details in the coming months.”

In December, Bloomberg reported that German carmakers Daimler and BMW were also looking at collaborating on key car components, a move that reflected “the fundamental changes sweeping the industry”.

The car makers were looking at sharing vehicle platforms, batteries and autonomous-car technology.

Volkswagen has made it clear that its EV offensive will be aggressive.

In November Volkswagen announced it was going to spend more than $68.5 billion in the coming five years on EVs, autonomous driving, new mobility services and digitalisation.

Roskill battery analyst Jose Lazuen told Stockhead last year this announcement implied that the VW ID – Volkswagen’s first mass market competitor to the Tesla Model 3 — would start rolling-off the assembly line by 2022.

“This is exactly the year when we assume a real inflection point in EV demand — when EVs become truly affordable,” Mr Lazuen said.