Volkswagen Figures It Can Keep Its Favorite Platform Around Basically Forever

In automotive terms, Volkswagen’s go-to MQB platform might end up having a lifespan somewhere between a Fox and a Panther.

Eager to stretch its meager dollars to Gumby-like proportions, the embattled automaker has announced that the platform underpinning most of its vehicles won’t die after two generations. Nah, let’s make it three, VW brand chief Herbert Diess said.

That means some vehicles, such as the stalwart Golf, will eventually ride on a platform old enough to drink in the United States.

According to Reuters, Diess told the German newspaper Boersen-Zeitung that keeping the MQB platform around for a little while longer — okay, a lot — should rake in the savings the company so desperately craves.

“In the past months we have worked on the cost side of MQB and made significant progress,” Diess said. “The MQB has high technical substance, so we can use it for the next two vehicle generations without further major investments.”

The modular platform, first used on the 2012 Golf, provides the backbone for VW’s small and midsize cars, crossovers and SUVs. The architecture also finds a home in some Audi small cars, as well as other VW Group products. Diess has said before that the MQB platform is a little too hoity toity for a volume compact like the Golf, hence the need to trim the expense.

Actually, there’s a laundry list of reasons why the automaker hit snooze on the MQB’s replacement. Volkswagen has promised to shave billions in expenses over the next few years as the company faces pressure on two fronts — paying off a Mt. Everest-sized pile of fines, settlements and litigation stemming from the diesel emissions scandal (the current tally stands at $16.5 billion in the U.S. alone), plus bringing to market a promised crop of electric vehicles.

Short of clipping coupons for Shake n’ Bake, cutting platform costs and building more utility vehicles is VW’s only fallback.

Speaking of the Golf, a refreshed version should appear any day now. The seventh generation model should soldier on in a lightly updated form for another few years.

[Image: Volkswagen of America]