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Volkswagen Group to share tech with Ford Motor Company to build new electric vehicle

Lionel Kong
15/03/2022

Volkswagen’s MEB electric vehicle platform will form the basis of a new Ford urban EV to be built in 2023


WOLFSBURG, GERMANY

The Volkswagen Group has announced that it will be expanding its e-mobility partnership with the Ford Motor Company, and will be sharing its VW MEB electric vehicle platform to build a new Ford EV for the European market. 

Volkswagen’s MEB, or Modular Electric Toolkit, is the group’s electric vehicle platform that is designed to allow car manufacturers to electrify their portfolio quickly and cost-effectively. Present MEB-based electric vehicles within the Volkswagen Group of companies include the Audi Q4 E-Tron, Q5 E-Tron, Skoda Enyaq, and the whole Volkswagen ID range of cars

Volkswagen’s ID.6 is an EV built on the brand’s MEB platform

The collaboration with Ford is for an EV crossover SUV. While there is still nothing officially being released about how the car will look, it is expected to roll off the assembly line at the Ford Electrification Centre in Cologne from 2023, and will be part of Ford’s major e-mobility plan in Europe. It will likely be a left-hand drive-only model, though that remains to be confirmed. The word is that it expects a total volume of 600,000 cars for the first model, with an option of extending the line to a second EV. 

A possible clue to how the new Ford EV might look can be found in the Volkswagen ID.5 GTX concept, itself a prototype built on the MEB platform.

The Volkswagen ID.5 GTX concept

More EV designs are scheduled to be built upon the MEB in the near future, and the collaboration with Ford will see the Volkswagen Group moving another step closer to becoming a major platform supplier for electric vehicles by other carmakers.

The MEB platform was used to build approximately 300,000 EVs in 2021, and the Volkswagen Group states that it has been designed to cover a wide range of applications from electric SUVs to vans. The most recent car built upon the MEB platform is the Volkswagen ID.Buzz, which VW claims is a ‘near production-ready concept’.

The Volkswagen VW ID Buzz Premiere in Dresden, 2022

Within the Volkswagen Group itself, there is a newly-created business unit named the “Platform Business”, responsible for partnerships and collaborations with other carmakers. Volkswagen’s in-development SSP (Scalable Systems Platform), the successor to the long-running MQB platform on which the Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Octavia, and Audi A3 are built on, will also be shared with partners and the use by various brands and manufacturers is already being taken into account in development.



Thomas Schmall, the Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, was quoted as saying, “Profitability and speed are now crucial for finally achieving the breakthrough of e-mobility in Europe. We are tackling both together with Ford.This is also proof of the strengths of the MEB, which provides a unique package of high-tech, competitive costs and speed in implementing projects. The electric platform is thus the ideal solution for companies looking to speed up their electrification.”


Tags:

electric car electric vehicle EV Ford MEB platform MQB platform singapore EV volkswagen

About the Author

Lionel Kong

An old hand from the bad old days of crazy COEs, the straight-shooting, ex-CarBuyer editor is back in the four-wheeled world. Rumours that he went to another country to start a Judas Priest tribute band are unfounded.

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