VW ELECTRIC car platform to underpin new FORD EV

Ford will take advantage of VW’s new MEB Platform for electric cars by building at least one new electric car for Europe in 2023.

As car makers realise the cost of moving in to electric cars to have a chance of meeting ever stricter average emissions regulations, commercial tie-ups are going to proliferate.

That explains why industry big beasts Ford and VW are cosying up to each other, and the latest news is that Ford will take VW’s electric car MEB Platform and use it to build a Ford EV for Europe by 2023. At least one EV.

In fact, it sounds a bit like the plan is to build more than one Ford EV underpinned by VW’s MEB Platform, with VW’s Herbert Diess already talking about a second model which could do twice the business of the first. And how prolific will that first Ford EV be? Ford say they expect to deliver 600,000 MEB-based vehicles over a six year period starting in 2023.

VW will supply the platform, structural bit and batteries to Ford at an, as yet undisclosed, Ford Plant in Europe, cutting Ford’s costs and spreading the cost of developing the MEB Platform over a wider base for VW.

Also announced by Ford and VW is an investment by VW in the Argo AI autonomous car company Ford is already invested in, including transferring its own AID Company in to the mix and investing around £800 million in the project.

All this comes on top of Ford and VW’s existing arrangements, including electric CVs.

The car world is changing.