Volkswagen has announced that it will roll out four new architectures for use in all VW brands. The move is intended to cut costs — by as much as 40% — and double VW’s global sales, helping the German automaker reach its goal of catching Toyota . The new architectures could also reduce development times by a year, helping VW to get new models to market faster.
The largest volume architecture will be VW’s transverse-engine architecture — dubbed MQB — and will be used for small-, lower-medium and upper-medium models. According to Automotive News, the MQB could underpin as many as 6 million vehicles, making it the industry’s biggest platform.
“MQB is planned for a broad application, from small cars up to and including upper-medium,†Ulrich Hackenberg, VW brand board member for development, told Automotive News Europe. “The first model to emerge can be expected in 2010.â€
Hackenberg failed to mention how many vehicles will be underpinned by the MQB architecture, but other company officials indicated that it could be used in as many as 20 different models.
The MHB platform will be another volume architecture and will underpin VW’s New Small Family rear-engine minicar range — including production versions of the Up concepts.
VW is currently developing a new architecture for its mid-engine sports cars, such as the Audi R8 and Lamborghini s. It also remains a possibility that the new platform could spawn a more affordable Bugatti model.
VW’s fourth architecture — called MLB — features a longitudinally mounted engine for front-drive and all-wheel-drive applications. This architecture is already being manufactured and underpins the new Audi A4 and A5. Hackenberg also indicated that the MLB architecture could serve as the platform for future A6 and A8 models, and possibly underpin future Bentley s. “MLB could be used for models up to the largest in our group,†he said.
VW hopes to increase its sales to 10 million by 2018, up from 5.7 million in 2006.
