VW: 60 Models, One Platform
Volkswagen will continue its pioneering work testing the boundaries between platform-sharing and brand-engineering, reports Autocar, with a new platform destined to underpin some 60 models globally....
View ArticleIn A Hurry: Volkswagen To Launch Next-Gen Golf By 2012
Didn’t the Golf MK6 just come out? Well, it appeared in late 2009, and some alleged it wasn’t a full generation, facelift would have been the better term. Maybe that’s why Volkswagen is in a rush to...
View ArticleThe Revolution Of The Car Industry: Kit Cars
Within the next ten years, the car industry will change more than in the past fifty years. At least at Volkswagen, says Audi Chief Rupert Stadler. Platforms are a thing of the last century. The future...
View ArticleBorn From Kits: Volkswagen Invents The Incredible Money Machine
We have been writing about it for years, now, Bloomberg wakes up to it: “Volkswagen AG will kick off its biggest technology overhaul in almost two decades.” Bloomberg still has a hard time of coming...
View ArticleVolkswagen Unveils MQB Architecture
Volkswagen unveiled their most important new platform, dubbed MQB (a German acronym for “Modular Transverse Matrix”). The MQB will underpin everything from the Up! to the next (European) Passat, and...
View ArticleVolkswagen Phaeton Redux Thanks To Modular Platform
What will the faithful say when the find out that the next Volkswagen Phaeton is based on a Golf platform Audi platform? Like it or not, that’s the way it’s going to be. Edit: I mixed up the VW...
View ArticleAudi A3 Sportback Begs The Question; Would An MQB By Any Other Name Smell As...
Are you longing to drive something on the MQB platform but too insecure to drive a Volkswagen Golf? Have we got something for you! The Audi A3 Sportback, seen here, won’t be available in the USA;...
View ArticleAnalysis: PSA Debuts EMP2, Their Own Modular Platform System
We at TTAC are very excited by modular platforms, and it has nothing to do with undiagnosed autism spectrum disorders or a lack of interest in the wider world outside autos. Modular platforms are the...
View ArticleAnalysis: Three Different Approaches To Maximize Scale
We’ve discussed the importance of scale countless times on this website. La Tribune takes a brief look at Ford, Volkswagen and PSA and the different ways they are working to achieve economies of scale...
View ArticleVolkswagen Brings Golf GTD To America
VW will reward the manual-diesel-wagon brigade with not one but two products set to satiate your Euro lust. In addition to the next generation Golf Variant (aka the Jetta SportWagen), Volkswagen...
View ArticleSEAT’s Survival Depends On Volume, Crossovers
1 million units a year. That’s going to be the minimum volume necessary for car makers to survive, if you believe SEAT boss James Muir. His struggling brand sold just 320,000 cars last year, and their...
View ArticleBernstein: VW Won’t Realize Big Savings From MQB
Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton thinks that the cost savings being anticipated by investors regarding VW’s MQB modular architecture will not materialize as planned. MQB has been touted as a...
View ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Bernstein’s MQB Report In Full
Despite a chorus of largely uncritical reporting, there is a growing contingent of those who question VW’s claim that their new MQB modular architecture will bring about significant savings. The...
View ArticleVW CrossBlue Coupe Concept: Is This The New MQB Crossover?
Looking a bit like a hybrid between the Range Rover Evoque and a Subaru Outback, the VW CrossBlue Coupe Concept is the smaller companion to the larger CrossBlue that debuted at Detroit. The Coupe has...
View ArticleThe Kit Race: You Have To Be In It To Win It – And GM Ain’t
Most large automakers are working on a modular architecture of some sort. Farthest ahead appears to be Volkswagen, which already is rolling out new car after new car on one of four related kit...
View ArticleMQB FUD: Burdened By Legacy Platforms, GM Fights Off The Kits – And what are...
(Note: This story is not for the TL;NR crowd. If you need it in one short sentence: If your car company isn’t working on a kit architecture, kiss them good-bye.) Call it coincidence, but immediately...
View ArticleNissan/Renault Join The Kit Car Age
The first CMF-based cars will be produced in a new section of Nissan’s plant in Chennai, India As you know, TTAC has been following the modularization trend in the industry with great interest. At...
View ArticleAre We About To Witness MQB’s First “Cascading Failure”?
Reports out of the Berlin desk of Reuters suggest that VW could have a fairly large problem on their hands, one that TTAC discussed during heated battles over modular kit architectures – that of...
View ArticleMQB Costs May Put The Squeeze On VW Profit Goals
A German business publication published a report this week claiming that Volkswagen won’t meet its 2015 profit goals, in part due to the costs associated with the new MQB modular platform. Manager...
View ArticleVolkswagen USA Doesn’t Want A Union, But Workers Will Get The Final Say
More drama in the ongoing Volkswagen unionization fight in Chattanooga: Volkswagen USA is not keen on the union, while Volkswagen’s management board is divided on the matter. One thing that seems...
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