VW to Have Only 4 Platforms in Coming Years

Volkswagen Boss, Matthias Mueller recently addressed the media with regards to the 'Strategy-2025', which broadly outlined the VW Group's focus and strategies till 2025. Of the many key points that he made, one said that in the coming future, VW will have only 4 car platforms to choose from and also the fact that the group will cut down on its model portfolio as well. From what we hear, not only will this lead to a reduction in costs by 25-40 per cent, but also the volumes of vehicle produced could be doubled by as early as 2018. The time that takes to develop new vehicles might come down by a year as well and the processes will become more streamlined.

(VW to have only 4 platforms in the future)

At present, VW has approximately 340 models in the entire group's portfolio. As far as platforms or modular architectures are concerned, the VW Group currently has 12 of them.

The four platforms that will remain are the small cars (MHB), medium cars (MQB), premium cars (MLB) and the sportscar platform, for which the code has been kept a secret. The cars from the VW Group in India itself make use of 9 different platforms across brands such as Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley.

Herr Mueller also mentioned about the VW Budget car plan that is on track and the new model under development will most likely have the continent of Asia as its prime focus. He also said that the plan was being worked upon with 'local partners'.

VW has made no mention of selling any of its brands in order to generate liquidity for coming out of the Dieselgate scandal. Also, Herr Mueller has confirmed that EVs and autonomous vehicles will be VW's priority under 'Strategy-2025'.