Volkswagen's MQB Platform: From VW Bulli to Audi A3 Sedan

A vital new Volkswagen Group compact platform begins to roll out on VWs and Audis next year. The Geneva auto show gave a few hints, but Motor Trend has uncovered more details.

 

VW Group will build 30 models off the MQB, or Modularer Querbaukasten, which translates as modular transverse-engine kit. It covers everything above the tiny "New Small" series of cars (the VW Up! and relatives) and below the modular longitudinal cars, the smallest of which is the Audi A4. It can be built in 103.5-, 101.8- and 98.2-inch wheelbases, the last for the next VW Polo, Audi TT, and A1. 

Flexibility and reduced production costs are key. VW claims 20-percent cost savings compared with the current generation of VW/Audi compacts. VW Group will use the savings to improve content and build quality while bolstering corporate profit.

Geneva's Audi A3 sedan and VW Bulli concepts both use the platform. They demonstrate tread width and seat height flexibility, the relatively compact overhang enabled by the new front crash structure, and the use of lightweight materials in more expensive models. The A3 is a pretty accurate preview of the real sedan launching in calendar 2013. It sits below the A4 in the range, but will have a wider body and track width than the A3 hatchback that is launching next year.

 

"The A3 sedan's design, being transverse-engined, is shorter and lower than the more elegant A4," says Audi Group design chief Wolfgang Egger. "The wheelbase is 103.5 inches. It also has a lower seating position than the other transverse cars." The next A3 sedan and cabrio will use the low and wide proportion, while the Sportsback and hatch will be narrower and taller.

The interior is a big step forward from the current A3's, Egger says. The climate control unit is broken down into subassemblies, the bulkiest of which are moved from the center stack outboard, to free up dash space, so the car will use a horizontal dash panel like the concept's. Lightened seat frames will free up rear space.

Audi's MQBs will use significant aluminum in the body, said Michael Dick, the brand's engineering director. "We can do different hang-on parts such as fenders and doors and hoods. But also in the structural floorpan, the crossmember, and the longitudinals can be aluminum, depending on which plant we build it at. So the A3 has more lightweight potential than the Golf."

 

The new platform is protected for all powertrains-gasoline, diesel, pure EV, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid. The A3 Sedan concept uses the five-cylinder transverse engine from the TT RS, which also powers the RS3 just released in Europe, and the quattro concept. VW is responsible for developing the basic MQB, and its first car off the platform is the seventh-generation Golf, coming in late 2012. VW's MQB Geneva concept was the Bulli microvan.

The Bulli might join the production portfolio about 2015, VW engineering chief Ulrich Hackenberg told MT. "The wheelbase and track and front overhang are possible. It can crash." The concept's flat floor is not possible for production, however.

Jonathan Browning, head of VW's sales company in the U.S., wants it produced. "This goes back to our U.S. heritage, and the strength of our brand. This is compact but roomy. It sits under the minivan segment." It's smaller than the 2001 Microbus concept, which would have required European production even though its main market would have been the U.S.

 

The Bulli has a better chance because it's small enough to sell globally. It sits on the same 103.5-inch wheelbase as the A3 sedan, which also serves the next-gen Euro Passat.

VW-Audi Group platforms in full

NEW Small Family or NSF: A VW brand-developed platform that serves the VW Up! unveiled late 2011, plus electric versions of same, a SpaceUp micro-MPV, and a Skoda variant. Audi considered using it, but designers said it felt too insubstantial. So a new A2 will now be built on the MQB, using a lot of aluminum.

MQB: See story above. Developed by VW. Does everything transverse-engined above the NSF. Launching as the new Audi A3 next year, with Golf and Seat versions following very shortly. (Audi A1 and Q3, American Passat, Mexican Jetta, and 2012 Beetle are the last cars on old transverse platforms.) Can also do crossovers.

MLB: modular longitudinal. Developed by Audi. Entails A4, A5, A6, A7, and A8, so it can do steel and aluminum and mixed-material bodies, and includes crossovers.