AutoLatina

AutoLatina
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1987
Defunct	1995
Fate	Dissolved
Headquarters	Argentina
Parent	Volkswagen do Brasil (51%); Ford Brasil (49%)

AutoLatina was a joint venture between Volkswagen Group subsidiary Volkswagen do Brasil (51%) and Ford Motor Company subsidiary Ford Brasil (49%) in South America. The main reason for the joint venture was the bad economic situation at the time, which made joint survival more attractive than an individual fight for a share in a dwindling market.

Four divisions - Ford of Argentina, Ford Brasil (Ford of Brasil), Volkswagen Argentina, and Volkswagen do Brasil - formed AutoLatina in July 1987.^[1]

Volkswagen managed the car division, and Ford the truck division.

This resulted in the two companies sharing badge engineered models. These included:

The AutoLatina venture was dissolved in December 1995.^[2] The market shares of both companies had steadily eroded since the merger. Market liberalization also made it unnecessary to have separate development lines for Latin America, and both manufacturers wanted to incorporate theirs into the global brand lineups. The companies thus resumed their separate activities, regaining whatever physical assets they had before the merger.^[1]

Truck Division

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Ford Trucks were built alongside each other in the Ipiranga complex, both shared parts and platforms. Ford kept manufacturing trucks for Volkswagen for a while after the break-up, although they proceeded to develop their own truck manufacturing capacity.^[1]

The Truck Division also exported trucks to the Paccar Group in the United States, where they were sold with Kenworth and Peterbilt badging.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Pereira Filho, Arthur (1994-12-02). "Ford e Volks anunciam fim da Autolatina; Nova direção" [Ford and VW announce the end of Autolatina; new directions]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2018-11-06.
^ Bradsher, Keith (1997-05-16). "After Latin Venture Fails, VW Succeeds And Ford Scrambles (Published 1997)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-12.

External links

Autolatina on Lexicar Brasil

[:0-1] Pereira Filho, Arthur (1994-12-02). "Ford e Volks anunciam fim da Autolatina; Nova direção" [Ford and VW announce the end of Autolatina; new directions]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2018-11-06.

[2] Bradsher, Keith (1997-05-16). "After Latin Venture Fails, VW Succeeds And Ford Scrambles (Published 1997)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-12.

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