If a car manufacturer takes the positive side of the electric vehicle delay — apart from the Japanese, who have been skeptical from the start — it would Volkswagen Group. That’s because Cariad, the group’s software division, is still puzzling over code that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to. German outlet Manager Magazine (thanks to Autoscoops) has been followed VW’s programming problems for five years, when software problems disrupted the launches of the Mk8 Golf and ID.3. The Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) that will succeed VW’s MEB platform is due to hit the road in 2024; software delays have pushed it back beyond 2026, a final date that is still uncertain. Group CEO Oliver Blume said a year ago that everything was back on track, and told investors that AudiThe VW Group brand that was supposed to be the first to launch an SSP-based offering was supposed to bring its car to market on time for 2026. Two months later, German reports said that the SSP was again overdue (or still is), and Audi, tired of waiting, had started holding talks with Chinese automakers about buying an EV platform. It looks like 2027 or 2028 will be the year for Audi’s SSP vehicle.
Meanwhile, at the Volkswagen brand, Manager Magazine (translated) And Handelsblad (translated) both write that the coding problems have delayed the development of next-generation models, such as the electric golf and the ID.4 until 2029 at the earliest. That’s at least 15 months behind schedule. The ID.4 will be nine years old by then. The market is so hard to fathom that no one knows what effect it will have on the SUV. However, with competitors releasing new models, even at a slower pace, you’d imagine an aging ID.4 would suffer. VS traders 12,380 units sold in the first half of this year, a 15% decline from 2023. That’s in the wrong direction compared to the 11.3% growth in electric vehicle sales in the first half of this year.
What’s more, delaying the opening salvo of vehicles pushes back other launches, as VW doesn’t want to roll out too many products at once — a caveat that assumes everything will come together quickly. The launch of a major electric Volkswagen SUV The competition, called T-Sport, is said to have been moved from 2028 to 2031.
Porsche will also have to make decisions, the brand’s seven-seater electric SUV codenamed K1, built on the SSP, is already in the testing phase and is expected in 2027.
For the VW Group, this news is not ideal. For the VW brand, the slowdown in electric vehicle sales limits the damage and gives the automaker time to make more money from the MEB platform, which will be refreshed in 2026 to the MEB+ specification.