Ford's first VW-platform electric car is a small SUV, report says
The partnership was first announced in 2019.
Vehicle development takes a pretty long time, which is why it came as no surprise when we didn't really hear much after Volkswagen and Ford announced a platform-sharing partnership that would see the American automaker using the German company's MEB scalable electric-vehicle platform. While official news has yet to land about the fruits of their partnership, a new report gives us an idea of what to expect in the near future.
Ford's first use of VW's MEB platform will spawn a small SUV, Autocar reported Monday, after sighting what it believes to be the vehicle in question. Representatives for Ford did not immediately return a request for comment, Volkswagen declined to comment, and neither automaker provided comment for Autocar's report.
Pictures published by Autocar show a vehicle wrapped in a blue cover, with only a hint of its styling revealed on the lower portion of the car. Based on its color, it could be a full-size clay model, but since automakers routinely decline to discuss future vehicles until the time and date of their choosing, answers will likely be hard to come by until Ford delivers more information on its efforts, which Autocar understands will happen later this year. The report says that Ford will build this MEB-based EV at its factory in Cologne, Germany, which is currently being renovated specifically to produce future electrified vehicles.
Given its size relative to the workers standing by it in Autocar's photos, this small SUV looks to slot beneath the Mustang Mach-E and would likely be analogous to VW's own ID4, which relies on the same MEB platform.
Rumors of a Ford and VW partnership first surfaced in 2018, and the two automakers chose the Detroit Auto Show to announce their joint venture, which at first was limited to midsize pickup trucks and commercial vans . Later that year, VW announced it would invest $2.6 billion in Argo AI and allow Ford to use its MEB EV platform for future vehicle development. It's all part of Ford's plan to go entirely electric in Europe by 2030, including commercial segments.
