The deal will see the three carmakers join forces to develop a common fuel cell stack and fuel cell system to be used by each of the carmaker’s in their own differentiated and separately branded FCEVs.

All three carmakers would invest equally in the project, although exact financial details were not provided.

‘Working together will significantly help speed this technology to market at a more affordable cost to our customers,’ said Raj Nair, group vice president, Global Product Development, Ford Motor Company. ‘We will all benefit from this relationship as the resulting solution will be better than any one company working alone.’

The three carmakers will jointly undertake engineering work on both the fuel cell stack and the fuel cell system at several locations around the world and will also look into the joint development of other FCEV components.

In a statement, the firms added that the collaboration across three continents and three companies will help define global specifications and component standards.

The companies said that the agreement sends clear signal to suppliers, policymakers and the industry to encourage the further development of hydrogen infrastructure worldwide.

The agreement follows the signing of a similar deal between Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai to support the introduction of fuel cell cars into Nordic countries. Meanwhile last week BMW and Toyota announced a deal to work together on the joint development of a fuel cell system due out in 2020.