The newly adopted kid in the Volkswagen family, Porsche, has been given an enviable slice of the cake, leaving the others (especially Audi, which is a consistent top performer in the school of sales) green with envy. The cake in question is the development of future models, and Weissach’s meal includes the sports cars and big luxury cars.
Automotive News reports that Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has told Porsche that it will take the lead in developing the “modular standard matrix” that will underpin the future Panamera and Bentleys. Porsche will also be responsible for a new sports car platform (for both front-mid and rear-mid engines) that will be shared with the likes of Audi and Lamborghini. This allays fears that the 911 of tomorrow will be sitting on a VW platform.
The report also says that the recent announcement that Porsche will invest 150 million euros in its R&D centre in Weissach plus the hiring of 100 engineers is linked to this responsibility.
Audi will continue to develop the “modular longitudinal matrix,” first introduced in 2007 for the A4, A5 and Q5. The number of models to use this architecture will grow to 15, Winterkorn said. The VW brand on the other hand, will focus on what it does best, that is to take charge of a “modular transverse matrix” that will debut on the 2012 Audi A3 and the next gen Golf. This platform will underpin 40 models and 6 million units annually, providing the numbers in VW’s quest to rule the auto world.
This so called “modular toolkit strategy” is a key strategy in giving VW a competitive advantage in its bid to topple Toyota as leader in sales and profitability. It is said to reduce development, procurement and production costs by 20% and engineered hours by 30%, besides allowing for more variants without the high costs.
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FIRST!!!!
This means the evergreen 911 design will still be around in the year 2020!
damn, with that much brands under their belt, look at the amount of money saved in platform sharing!
maximise the use and value of each platform. nice.
i agree with the above comment..platform sharing is the way to go….but one thing that really makes me admire VW as opposed to toyota’s method or platform sharing is thier ability to make thier cars varied. u can see it in the market segments ,…for example…its suprising that the benley continental gt is actually riding on a vw phaeton platform and while the latter is not much of a handling exponent..u can say the otherwise for the former..or the scirocco is actually just a golf???…what im trying to say is they make platform sharing exciting for the end user and actually make a little effort to hide parts sharing by giving it a diffrent color or some funky trim or even a substantial reengineering whe needed as opposed to toyota’s usual method of just landing thier hand into the giant parts bin..(it can range from suspensions to belt buckles etc) and then just fitting it to any car without any changes at all!!..im no toyota basher…im not a vw lover as well but platform sharing between 20 diffrent models are gonna be common …(even exora’s can make 5 diff models i think) and i rather like vw’s approach to it….its taking them longer to make money and reach toyota levels (which i have no doubt they will )coz they are actually doing it with some care for the average buyer instead of gunning for pure profits….
VW will surely over take TOYOTA, only different is VW is better quality build~ more performance driven too
platform and part bin sharing can save lots of cost…
(including R&D of parts, common part accross segment of diff brands….)