22:30 06-06-2026

Volkswagen SSP platform: how VW plans to make the ID. Golf cost as much as a regular Golf

VW Group plans to launch the SSP platform by the end of the decade, switch to LFP batteries and slash software costs by 80% to bring EV prices down to ICE level.

Volkswagen wants to remove the main argument against electric cars — their high price. By the end of the decade the group plans to roll out the SSP platform, which should make electric models comparable in cost to petrol cars built on MQB.

Today most of the group’s mass-market EVs are built on MEB, which debuted with the ID.3 in 2019. Later came MEB+ — the basis for more compact models like the ID. Polo and ID. Cross. For pricier Audi and Porsche models a different architecture is used — PPE, with an 800-volt system and ultra-fast charging: the electric Cayenne, for example, is supposed to charge from 10 to 80% in less than 16 minutes, with a peak of 400 kW.

SSP is meant to replace both platforms and become a common base for very different cars — from city models to large luxury SUVs. Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume is counting on scale and unification to drive the price down. Audi will be the first to get the new architecture, and then it will move to the group’s other brands. Future models named so far include the ID. Golf and ID. Roc.

The biggest savings come from batteries and software architecture. Volkswagen is moving from expensive NCM cells to cheaper LFP — lithium iron phosphate. They are usually less expensive and a better fit for mass-market cars, where buyers care more about price and longevity than peak energy density. The second lever is software: the new strategy is meant to cut its cost by 80% compared with the current MEB architecture.

There is also a less visible but important fight against unnecessary complexity. Blume cited Audi as an example: the brand used to offer 150 steering wheel variants, now cut down to five. For the customer almost nothing changes — a steering wheel is still a steering wheel. For the factory it means fewer parts, simpler logistics, lower costs and fewer mistakes in production.

If the plan works, the future ID. Golf could cost roughly the same as a regular Golf with a combustion engine. For the buyer this would be a turning point: people would choose an EV not because of subsidies or ideology, but because the price would no longer be a penalty for switching to new technology.

Volkswagen has already realised that EVs cannot be sold on promises of the future alone. Once an electric Golf is no more expensive than a petrol one, the argument gets much shorter.