The recently announced partnership between Ford and Volkswagen in the commercial vans and medium pickup trucks arena served to highlight the strong global demand that both companies foresee in these two segments. The partnership was made public on the sidelines of the just concluded North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) 2019, in Detroit. It marks the first step in a partnership that seeks to leverage the complementary strengths of both automotive giants in a bid to boost their competitiveness.