FORD

Company to launch electric vehicle models based on borrowed Volkswagen platform (MEB)

Ford's European model range has always stood out from the American one, so the company chose to cooperate with Volkswagen rather than develop special electric vehicle models for sale in Europe. The partners agreed to jointly produce two models, which will sell 1.2 million pieces in 6 years. The alliance's firstborn will roll off the assembly line in Cologne next year.

The partners announced the change in cooperation plans in a joint press release. Initially, Ford Motor expected to produce around 600,000 electric crossovers on the German automaker's MEB platform for European consumers. Now, the planned production volume over the models' six-year lifecycle has been doubled to 1.2 million units, and the lineup has been expanded to two models. If an electric crossover on MEB's borrowed platform is the first to roll off the assembly line at Ford's European division in Cologne, the partners have yet to disclose the timing of the second model's appearance and its positioning.

Volkswagen itself produced around 300,000 electric vehicles on the MEB platform in 2021, offering ten electric vehicle models from five brands. The newly introduced Volkswagen ID minivan. Buzz also uses the MEB platform, so based on it you can create cars with various body types and purposes. Volkswagen also intends to offer its partners the next unified SPP platform for electric vehicles.

AVnews