“Porsches will still be Porsches.”
Audi and Porsche are going to work together on a new shared vehicle architecture fit for 2025: it will be electrified, digitised and ready for autonomous driving. And because “the best brains of both companies will together set the technical course for the future,” much is expected of the new vehicle platform.
However, Porsche AG chairman Oliver Blume is keen to dampen down any worries that the Porsches of the future are going to become mere Audi clones. “We will… be very careful to maintain the differentiation between our brands. A Porsche is always a Porsche, and that will remain so for the future.”
In a joint statement, the two companies said the roadmap for areas of cooperation will be defined in the coming weeks. The aim is to jointly develop vehicle architectures, modules and components ready for 2025; each area of collaboration will be jointly developed by a representative from both Audi and Porsche.
Details of which models will use the new joint architecture are scant, but it may involve the all-new, all-electric platform created for the upcoming Porsche Mission E. First seen at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2015, the firm plans to put the 600-horsepower electric supercar into production by 2020 – but even for a brand as profitable as Porsche, creating a futuristic all-new platform just for itself would be a stretch.
It is likely Audi is now joining the project to spread investment and speed up development. Audi’s digital expertise through its close working relationship with companies such as Nvidia is considerable, and Audi is also well advanced in the area of autonomous vehicles. It would also allow Audi to belatedly release a successor to the R8 e-tron.
The joint venture may have broader applications, too. Audi is believed to be reviewing its platform strategy and could base the future Audi A4 on a variant of the MQB platform used by the Golf in the future. This would create the opportunity to develop an all-new future-proof platform for large cars, one that could also be scaled for use in future Porsches such as the Panamera. Hence Blume's desire to stress Porsches will always remain Porsches?
Source: Audi
Gallery: Porsche’s 600HP Mission E Electric Sedan is Efficient, Beautiful
Audi and Porsche join forces for shared vehicle architecture
- Starting signal for pioneering development cooperation
- Audi CEO Rupert Stadler: “The best brains of both companies will together set the
- course for the future.”
- Porsche CEO Oliver Blume: “Together, we will make faster progress in the race for
- the future.”
Ingolstadt/Stuttgart, April 5, 2017 – The green light has been given for the shared vehicle
architecture strategy of the future: Rupert Stadler and Oliver Blume, the Board of
Management Chairmen of AUDI AG and Porsche AG, plan to cooperate even more closely. The
objective of the new initiative is to shape the mobility of the future together. Through the
effective application of development capacities, additional scope is to be created for the
topics of electrification, digitization and autonomous driving. This will enhance
competitiveness so that the two companies can optimally utilize the opportunities for future
model generations and better meet the challenges.
“The best brains of both companies will together set the technical course for the future,” stated
Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. “We are united by many
shared values, above all, by our pursuit of the best solutions and the best offerings for our
customers.”
“Together, we will make faster progress in the race for the mobility of the future. We will utilize
the expertise of both companies and take advantage of synergies,” said Oliver Blume, Chairman
of the Board of Management of Porsche AG. “We will cooperate wherever it makes sense. But we
will also be very careful to maintain the differentiation between our brands. A Porsche is always
a Porsche, and that will remain so in the future.”
Collaboration within the Volkswagen Group is nothing new. Audi, VW and Porsche have worked
together successfully for many years in the area of SUVs, and with the new development
cooperation, Porsche and Audi are positioning themselves for the next decade. In the coming
months, joint teams will prepare the specific areas of cooperation and define the roadmap as far
as 2025. The focus is on the joint development of shared vehicle architectures, modules and
components. Project work will take place in various areas, each of which will be jointly headed by
a representative of each brand.
