e-Golf

Make
Volkswagen
Segment
Hatchback

Walk into a Tesla showroom and you'll find a display of its chassis the company affectionately calls "the skateboard." All Tesla models are underpinned by a platform with integrated batteries, forming the chassis. Theoretically, this would allow Tesla to sell the skateboard to other manufacturers who would then put their own bodies on it, but this plan was never put into action.

Tesla may not have any interest in selling its platform to competitors but Volkswagen seems open to the idea. According to Automotive News Europe, the VW Group is in talks with other manufacturers about sharing the platform used by upcoming Volkswagen and Audi electric cars.

"There's definitely interest," said Ulrich Widmann, head of development at Audi for the joint engineering project. "We're having conversations. Sharing technology to generate scale effects is the only way to achieve the turnaround in electric cars, both economically and ecologically." Widmann would not specifically mention which manufacturers have expressed interest in borrowing the company's Premium Platform Electric (PPE), which will be used on future Audi and Porsche electric cars such as the e-tron GT.

"Given the huge research and development investment required for the transition to battery-electric vehicles, many smaller luxury names could be interested including Aston Martin, McLaren, and Maserati," Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Dean told ANE. "You couldn't rule out BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which would provide a German premium solution," he added.

The VW Group has already partnered with Ford to develop EV technology and will allow the Blue Oval to borrow its scalable MEB electric platform in Europe. Recently seen on the ID.3 hatchback, the platform will also spawn a crossover and even a van. Selling electric platforms to other automakers is a great way to speed up the proliferation of EVs while also ensuring a spot as a top automaker for years to come.