Volkswagen Reportedly Wants to Share its EV Platform With Competitors

While some automakers are still waiting to get into the EV game, Volkswagen is going all in. It has previously claimed that it plans to sell a million EVs per year by 2025 and build at least 15 million vehicles on its modular electric platform in the first phase of its big EV push. If its latest plans work out, though, the MEB platform could end up underpinning all sorts of other cars, too.

According to Reuters, Michael Jost, Volkswagen’s head of brand strategy, recently told the German newspaper Tagesspiegel that the German automaker may allow competitors to use the MEB platform for EVs of their own. From the sound of it, these are serious conversations, too, not early discussions. Jost also reportedly told the paper he wants MEB to become “a standard not only for the VW group.”

The report didn’t say which automakers are currently talking with Volkswagen about borrowing its EV platform, but since VW recently announced a formal partnership with Ford, the Blue Oval will probably be the first. Since the report mentions more than one competitor, though, there’s a good chance a few more will follow Ford’s lead.

Considering how expensive electric cars will be for the next several years, it makes sense that automakers would want to save money on platform development. On the other hand, it will also make differentiating their vehicles more difficult. If it encourages more creativity and risk-taking from the design departments, that can only be a good thing.

Source: Reuters

The post Volkswagen Reportedly Wants to Share its EV Platform With Competitors appeared first on Motortrend.

from Motortrend http://bit.ly/2FZKq4N