The replacement for the MEB platform is coming two years earlier than expected.
Volkswagen's next-generation electric vehicle platform will arrive two years earlier than expected and will produce 600 horsepower more than anticipated. Following an interview with Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume, Autocar has learned that the automaker's Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), which was previously delayed to 2028 or 2029, will arrive on schedule in 2026 and will offer up to 1,700 hp, up from the original estimate of 1,100 hp.
The EV architecture was first announced in 2021 and was expected to have a 2026 launch that would begin with Audi's Project Artemis. Thanks to issues within VW's Cariad software division that delayed the launch of vehicles from several group brands, including Audi, Porsche, and Bentley, the project was then pushed back to 2028 at the earliest.
Now, VW seems to have made remarkable progress in a short time, and there is A LOT to look forward to. Let's dive in.
The SSP architecture will be shared across some 40 million vehicles, increasing economies of scale and therefore reducing individual costs. In fact, Blume believes that “most” electric vehicles on this platform will achieve profit parity with combustion-powered cars, so many of VW's next-gen EVs will be affordably priced, like the ID.1 (which is sadly too small to make a case for itself in the US). Currently, only “some” of VW's current MEB-based EVs return similar profit margins to ICE cars. Moreover, new EVs may even be more profitable than ICE cars.
“Architectures cover up to 75% of all material costs for BEV, compared to up to 10% for ICE,” said Blume. “Therefore, architectures are a key driver for profitability in the future.”
Good, but we want to know how much better the cars will be, and there's plenty of positive news on that front.
Blume says that, on average, SSP vehicles will offer a charge time of just 12 minutes, compared to 35 minutes for current MEB models. In addition, the software and electronic makeup of the car will be ready for Level 4 hands-free driving.
Individual brands will handle the development of certain SSP elements based on the size and cost of their respective core segments.
Volkswagen will lead the development of architectural components for subcompacts and city cars. These parts will be used by Cupra, Skoda, and Audi. Audi will develop parts for compact and midsize cars that will be used by Volkswagen, Porsche, and Skoda. Large car component development will be spearheaded by Porsche, and these parts will be used by Porsche, Audi, Bentley, and Lamborghini.
14 different models will share the SSP large-car components, which is expected to translate to roughly 1.4 million vehicles until 2038, adding some $163 billion in sales revenue. Remarkably, Blume expects “highly attractive profit margins” of over 20% thanks to those larger economies of scale. That's the sort of margin Porsche recently started aiming at. How can it do this? Well, Blume claims that VW can reduce its capital and development expenditure by as much as 30% compared to today's MEB platform.
Suggesting that the entire VW Group's EV ranges could be as profitable as a niche luxury automaker like Porsche suggests that Volkswagen has made huge breakthroughs in software, technology, and production.
As we said, this SSP architecture only arrives in 2026, but Volkswagen has lesser improvements to make in the meantime, which will begin next year.
German publication The Pioneer (via Reuters) reports that Volkswagen will use silicon carbide chips in electric cars for the first time later this year, albeit likely only in premium vehicles. A new model with these chips is expected to arrive later this year, offering several beneath-the-surface benefits.
But the real intermediary step to the SSP platform is the Premium Performance Electric architecture that will debut on the Porsche Macan EV and its technically related sibling, the Audi Q6 e-tron, in 2024.
The evolved MEB+ platform arrives a year later, cutting 10-80% charge times to an average of 21 minutes, a reduction of 14 minutes. Both the PPE and the MEB+ platforms will offer Level 2 hands-free driving, but PPE could also offer Level 3.
In summary, the Volkswagen Group appears to have worked around Cariad's software delays, and along the way, it found ways to save money and extract more performance.
The only question is this: Which car will make use of all the SSP architecture's potential first? Porsche is a likely candidate, having previously announced the development of a new halo SUV to sit above the Cayenne that will reportedly blend sedan and crossover characteristics, while Bentley is primed for four-figure horsepower output from its first fully electric vehicle.
Porsche's internally named K1 SUV is only expected to be shown as a concept in 2026, while Bentley is likely to reveal its first production EV in 2025, putting it on sale the following year. Let's just hope each of the new SSP cars – big or small, affordable or exorbitant – feels distinctly different from its brand siblings' versions.
Keyword: Volkswagen's New EV Platform Will Have Up To 1,700 HP From 2026