After several postponements, the Volkswagen group’s PPE platform intended for electric cars from Audi and Porsche is finally ready. The manufacturer with the rings is in fact starting to produce the engines which will be associated with this technical base on which the Q6 e-tron and the Porsche Macan will be based in particular.
If everything seems to be going well for certain manufacturers like Tesla and BYD, this is not the case for the Volkswagen group. Indeed, if the manufacturer is the world number 3 in electricity, he has been going through a very bad patch for several months. In question, disappointing sales with an ID.4 which struggles to seduce, but not only that.
A great step forward
And for good reason, the German firm also has to face numerous technical problems, linked in particular to its subsidiary Cariad in charge of the software part. It is the latter which is at the origin of the delay in development of the SSP platform, which is to replace the current MEB and which offers several advantages, including reduced production costs. The situation is such that the manufacturer will cut no less than 2,000 jobs next year.
In short, Volkswagen has seen better days. But there is no question of letting yourself be discouraged, while several highly anticipated models are currently under development within the group. At Audi, we are particularly preparing to welcome the Q6 e-tron, recently unveiled through a series of official photos, a few weeks before showing its interior. The latter should be the first car of the group to stand on another new platform.
This takes the name of PPE (Premium Platform Electric) and is designed with the help of Porsche, which will also use it on its future electric Macan, recently seen with thick camouflage. If the project to work hand in hand on a new technical base dates back to 2018, the first cars based on it were to see the light of day in 2021. But that was without taking into account the delay in development, postponing its arrival on the market.
But now things are finally starting to get back to normal. Audi has just announced in a press release that it is finally starting to produce the electric motors which will be installed in cars equipped with this new PPE platform. A great step forward for the German manufacturer, which is preparing to assemble your first car based on this technical base.
From the end of the year
The latter should come off the production lines of the Ingolstadt factory by the end of the year. In the meantime, the engines are produced at the Győr site, in Hungary. A country which would also have been chosen by the Chinese manufacturer BYD to manufacture its electric cars, so that they can remain eligible for the ecological bonus next year.
The Győr factory currently employs 700 people and should be able to manufacture no less than 2,000 electric motors per day intended for the PPE platform, whether for Porsche or Audi vehicles. However, all is not yet won for the Volkswagen group. Indeed, the launch of version 1.2 of the software equipping the electric Q6 e-tron and Macan would be delayed by approximately 16 to 18 weeks.
This is due to concerns linked to the Cariad subsidiary, which continues to miss deadlines and which has also significantly exceeded the initially planned budget. So much so that the arrival of the SSP platform, which will equip the next generation of the Skoda Enyaq, will be postponed to a date that has not even been announced yet. It should have seen the light of day next year.
In order to limit the damage, Audi recently announced that it had joined forces with the Chinese automobile group SAIC (MG) to design its future electric cars. These will be based on a very high-end common platform and will be primarily intended for China. We don’t know if they will also make the journey to Europe.