Alibaba, Ford enters strategic cooperation agreement

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Today, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Ford Motor signed a letter of intent to explore the cooperation possibility in such areas as Internet of vehicles, artificial intelligence, intelligent mobility service and digital marketing.

Under the three-year agreement, the companies will make studies in the areas which may reshape China auto market and even global market and cooperate in the following segments, AliOS (an operating system offering OS solutions for mobile, industrial and IoT devices), Ali cloud and Tmall (one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in the world), etc.

According to the statement, both sides will redefine the ownership and purchasing of vehicles and also explore the new retailing opportunities via digital channels. By virtue of Alibaba’s rich resources in new retail services, cloud computing and data technologies, the companies will make great efforts to improve the vehicle ownership experience for Chinese consumers.

At the initial phase, Alibaba and Ford will conduct pilot study on the digital solutions of new retailing at every stage of the vehicle’s usage circle, covering its pre-sales, test driving and financial leasing. Based on the advantages on both sides, the cooperation will also redefine the means of online retail marketing and distribution strategy in auto industry.

The American carmaker wants to take advantage of this partnership to enhance its vision to be a trustworthy intelligent mobility company.

The cooperation with Alibaba would be part of Ford’s efforts to regain the growth momentum in China market. Only two days ago, Ford released its future development strategy of the next phase for China market, namely China 2025 Plan. According to the plan, Ford will deepen its ties with its partners Changan and Jiangling next year to establish one distribution service division responsible for the marketing, sales and services associated with all Ford vehicles in China.