VW outlines cost-cutting plans and possible deal with Ford

By Colin Windell 

The shape of things to come 

Following the much publicised signing of a Memorandum of Understanding back in June outlining proposals for a possible joint commercial vehicle development between Volkswagen and Ford, a new 10-year plan will be put to the VW board this week.

The cost of development has escalated dramatically for automakers with the onset of electric vehicles in the mix and VW boss Herbert Diess takes a new 10-year plan to his board on Friday (November 16) that aims to slash research costs.

The simplest way of doing this is through joint venture operators with other manufacturers, such as Ford, but this new plan could well sideline Audi that has operated as the group’s mainstream development centre for some years.

Volkswagen is playing its cards close to the chest but, from information already released the main area of coooperation with Ford would be for the US automaker to supply a pickup truck platform and some engines to VW – making the next Amarok a twin to the Ford Ranger.

It is believe part of the overall plan would also be to explore potential alliances with Ford and others to develop autonomous and electric vehicles (EVs). If approved by the board, it would signal a major departure from VW's standalone efforts to build them and diminish Audi's importance as an engineering hub.

VW could also buy a stake in Ford's autonomous cars program and give Ford access to its MEB electric cars platform.

The surprise showing of the Tanoak concept pickup at the New York International Motor Show still has people guessing whether Volkswagen will actually put the unibody mid-size vehicle into production – and VW itself is doing nothing to stem those speculations.

The VW ‘MQB’ platform on which the Tanoak sits forms the basis for nearly two dozen VW models around the world, from the diminutive front-wheel-drive Polo subcompact to the massive all-wheel-drive Atlas SUV.

Development savings are vital for VW as it is still trying to get business back on track after the emissions scandal that still leaves it with a huge bill and saw heads roll across management, particularly at Audi, where the engine management ‘fudging’ software was actually devised.

The pressure is on and, while emissions rules in Europe are still being finalised, VW would need to raise its share of fully electric vehicles to 30% of new car sales to cut average fleet emissions of carbon dioxide by 30% by 2030.

Diess is visibily tightening his grip on the sprawling multi-brand car and trucks group, which includes Skoda, Seat, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ducati, Scania and MAN and whatever he presents to the board will be a game-changer for the German company.