Volkswagen, Skoda low-cost cars to share Tata platform – report
According to a report, Volkswagen and Tata will soon publicly announce a joint product development push centred around low-cost vehicles.
A report in Autocar India states that during the 2017 Geneva motor show, which kicked off this week, Matthias Mueller, CEO of the Volkswagen Group, and Guenter Butschek, managing director of Tata Motors, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
The MoU is believed to encompass joint engineering and development of models to marketed under the Volkswagen, Skoda and Tata brands.
It's believed that the two companies have been discussing a partnership for a while. Initially, Volkswagen was keen to use a variant of its MQB platform for front- and all-wheel drive cars, but struggled to make it price competitive.
Tata was keen for Volkswagen and Skoda to share its recently developed Advanced Modular Platform (AMP). The Indian automaker finally won Volkswagen over after AMP was independently tested by EDAG, a German engineering and consulting firm, and came out with top marks in structural rigidity and crashworthiness.
Above: Tata Tiago.
The German automaker has struggled to make a large dent in the Indian car market, with many of its products too large and too expensive for the country's automotive sweet spot.
Back in 2009, Volkswagen tried to gain a secure foothold in India and Asia by entering into a partnership with Suzuki. The relationship quickly frayed over engineering, control and technology issues.
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