First Volkswagen Electric Cars Built On Scalable Systems Platform Will Arrive In 2028
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Volkswagen Group began talking about its Scalable Systems Platform — SSP for short — when Herbert Diess was still the CEO. It was to be the one platform to rule them all and would replace the MEB and PPE platforms for electric vehicles, according to Handelsblatt. In Diess’ vision, SSP would be a second-generation electric car platform that would serve the needs of virtually every electric car manufactured by all the various brands within the Volkswagen Group. It would avoid the costs associated with using a number of different electric car platforms, including the Premium Performance Electric platform that will be the basis for the new Porsche e-Macan and Audi Q6 e-tron.
The SSP development process has not gone smoothly. Originally, the new Volkswagen platform was supposed to be ready by 2026. Diess wanted to build a new factory in Wolfsburg to build SSP-based cars, but that plan ended when the supervisory board put Diess out to pasture and brought in Oliver Blume to be the ringmaster of Volkswagen Group. Blume quickly mothballed plans for the new factory and set about trying to bring order out of the chaos at Cariad, the company’s standalone software division. Things did not go well with that effort and word got out that the SSP platform would be delayed until 2030 — gloomy news for Volkswagen.
Speaking at a recent event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Volkswagen Golf, Thomas Schäfer, the CEO of the Volkswagen brand, said the company plans to launch its next-generation electric cars on the SSP chassis in 2028. He didn’t disclose the name or any other details regarding the model that will debut the new platform. Volkswagen Group has confirmed that it will be a mechatronics platform with different versions for different vehicle segments. Originally, the company planned to put it into use starting with a highly aerodynamic sedan in 2026. Later, it decided to go for a more volume-focused SUV body style and changed the debut timeline to the end of the decade.
MEB-based EVs aren’t selling as well as expected, so Volkswagen needs to ensure that there are no further delays in rolling out next-generation electric cars based on the SSP architecture. Handlesblatt says in the first quarter of 2024, Volkswagen Group’s electric car sales in Europe declined by 24%. The company has had to repeatedly reduce production at its Emden and Zwickau domestic plants because of overcapacity.
Volkswagen Group is also under pressure from investors to deliver good results. Its share price hasn’t grown much in a year. Last October, it even dipped below €100, a worrying development. Any further setbacks in the rollout of the SSP platform and the new models based on it could shake the confidence of investors again. The company may have changed the body style of its first SSP-based EV, but it will still be part of the Trinity program initiated by Diess. The company has confirmed that the first SSP-based car will be assembled at its Zwickau factory. It has also approved an SSP-based Golf EV that will be made in Wolfsburg.
The company may be one of the largest car manufacturers in the world but it has certainly found the transition to electric cars to be challenging, particularly with regard to adapting to the “car as rolling computer” concept pioneered by Tesla. Its basic EV technology seems solid enough. It claims to have made major improvements in batteries and powertrains, but getting the software right has been an ongoing nightmare that has delayed important new electric models from some members of the Volkswagen Group — most notably Porsche and Audi.
Today, within the company, there are a number of EV platforms, from several variations of the original MEB, to the PPE platform, to the J1 platform used for the Porsche Taycan. The key to making money in the car business is using as many common components as possible to drive economies of scale while making finished products that don’t all look like cookie cutter copies of each other so they appeal to buyers with different tastes. If the SSP platform can help Volkswagen Group remain competitive in an increasingly challenging business environment, that is good news for electric cars advocates. If it does not, then even a giant corporation like Volkswagen could be in serious trouble.
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