VW Could Share Its Electric-Car Platform with Ford

Volkswagen AG tells reporters it’s “theoretically possible” that the company would allow Ford Motor Co. to use its new MEB electric-car platform.

The remark from Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter came in a discussion about a comment last week by Ford CFO Bob Shanks that the two companies are having “very broad” discussions about global collaboration on virtually all aspects of their businesses.

Those talks evolved from a more modest discussion that began in June about jointly developing and making light-duty commercial vehicles.

VW unveiled the MEB (modular electric toolkit) platform in September. The chassis (pictured) will carry 27 EV models that expected to be launched by the group’s Audi, SEAT, Skoda and VW brands before 2023. The group targets annual sales of 1 million EVs by 2025.

The first such model, inspired by VW’s compact “I.D.” concept, is due by about the end of next year.

That model will be built at VW’s plant in Zwickau, Germany, which is being converted into an EV-only factory. VW also plans to build cars on the MEB platform in China and will decide by year-end whether to do the same at its plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.