According to Michael Jost, Head of Strategy for Volkswagen, the German automaker is eager to provide other manufacturers with access to their brand new electric MEB platform in an attempt to reduce the costs of producing future electric vehicles.
After years of development, Volkswagen unveiled their MEB platform last September, announcing that the modular electric drive matrix would help enable their vision of bringing more affordable electric vehicles to market. At the time of it’s debut, Brand Board Member for E-Mobility Thomas Ulbrich commented:
“We will make electric vehicles popular and get as many people as possible excited about electric cars. The MEB is one of the most important projects in the history of Volkswagen – a technological milestone, similar to the transition from the Beetle to the Golf.”
Since it’s initial unveiling, Volkswagen has announced a number of upcoming vehicles under their ID line that will utilize the MEB platform, such as the compact ID, ID BUZZ, ID CROZZ, and ID VIZZION. While we have yet to see a production version of any of the upcoming ID vehicles mentioned, the first ID model is expected to go into production by the end of 2019.
(From left to right) The compact ID, ID BUZZ, ID CROZZ, and ID. VIZZION.
In a recent interview with Berlin-based newspaper Tagesspiegel, Michael Jost expressed the automaker’s desire to allow fellow manufacturers to take full advantage of their upcoming MEB platform, stating:
“Regarding this area, I think that we are industry forerunners in terms of costs and scalability. Therefore, we want to offer access to the MEB, by making it available to the entire industry. This represents a paradigm shift for us.”
According to a Volkswagen executive, the automaker is already in talks with various competitors regarding the electric platform. If Volkswagen is truly serious about offering their electric platform to fellow automakers for the production of affordable electric vehicles, this could be the push needed to help the German automaker redeem themselves in the eyes of the general public we’ve been waiting for.
Source: Autocar Professional