VW's 10-million-unit plan New architectures underpin effort to catch Toyota
Wim Oude Weernink Automotive News November 26, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
WOLFSBURG -- Volkswagen group is planning a major change in the way it will engineer cars in the future.
The move is part of a plan to cut development costs, double its global sales and eventually catch Toyota.
The German carmaker is developing four new architectures that it will make available to all VW group brands.
The largest of these will be VW's new transverse-engine architecture (MQB) for small-, lower-medium and upper-medium models. It could underpin up to six million cars, making it the industry's biggest platform.
The new approach will help VW to build cars faster, cut development times by up to a year and reduce costs by 25 percent to 40 percent.
That will help VW's ambitious drive to boost group sales to 10 million by
2018 from 5.7 million in 2006 and challenge Toyota for global leadership.Ulrich Hackenberg, VW brand board member for development, is completing development of the MQB architecture.
"MQB is planned for a broad application, from small cars up to and including upper-medium," Hackenberg told Automotive News Europe in an interview here. "The first model to emerge can be expected in 2010."
Hackenberg did not specify how many models would be based on the MQB architecture. But other company sources say VW sees MQB as the logical base for replacements of at least 20 small, lower-medium and upper-medium models, plus additional new niche models.
Current models include VW's Fox, Polo, Golf, Jetta, Beetle, Touran, Caddy, Eos and Passat; Audi's A3 and TT; Skoda's Fabia, Roomster, Octavia and Superb; and Seat's Ibiza, Cordoba, Leon, Altea and Toledo.
A VW source said the next Touran, due in 2010, may be based on MQB.
Automakers use the term "architecture" to define a set of common components, a common manufacturing process and common connecting points for key component systems.
Using modular architectures should allow for a 40 percent increase in production efficiency and more "invisible" component sharing across VW's model range. But VW MQB would be the first to cover three segments with one architecture.
Global leaders Top platforms, by 2006 unit sales
- VW PQ35/46 (2.30 million) Top model: Golf
- Toyota NBC ( 1.63 million) Top model: Yaris
- Ford C1/P1 (1.51 million) Top model: Focus Source: PwC Automotive Institute
MHB for Up
A second volume architecture called MHB will underpin VW's New Small Family rear-engine minicar range, exemplified by its Up concept vehicles.
VW is developing another modular architecture for mid-engine sports cars, such as the Audi R8 and Lamborghinis, but perhaps even for a more-affordable Bugatti.
While he was at Audi, Hackenberg masterminded the group's fourth architecture, MLB, which has a longitudinally mounted engine for front-drive and all-wheel-drive applications.
The first products based on MLB -- the Audi A4 and A5 -- are already on the road.
"But MLB could be used for models up to the largest in our group," Hackenberg said.
That would appear to include not only larger Audi models such as the A6 and A8, but also replacements for the VW Phaeton and Bentleys.
Lineup expansion
VW's current four major platforms are size-based -- mini/small, lower-medium, upper-medium and large/luxury.
Mark Fulthorpe, a senior analyst at CSM Worldwide, says the modular architecture is not only an economies-of-scale gain but also a way VW can quickly expand its lineup with niche vehicles.
"We see this as an enlargement of their platform applications, not for replacement of current models only," he said. "The modularity and flexibility will give them a quicker response to the market, for niches."
Fulthorpe estimated VW's development savings at up to 40 percent, with greater gains for each model added.
In VW's new system, basic structures can vary, but elements that matter in developing crumple zones that protect passengers -- the positions of the engine, front axle and drivers' pedals -- are fixed. That vastly simplifies and speeds development. Crash-test computer modeling can be largely reused for each model.