VW: Will the Trinity be delayed until the end of 2032?

The German newspaper Handelsblatt says it has been able to view ramp-up plans for the SSP (Scalable Systems Platform). These documents show that production of the Trinity is scheduled to start at the end of 2032. However, the timing for the start of production (SOP) mentioned in the report is only a management plan for the time being: several insiders stated that the usual VW procedure will be followed. In other words, amended production plans will be decided in autumn during the so-called planning round, not before.

As a result, the company has not yet confirmed the information; spokespersons for the Group and the VW brand declined to comment when asked by Handelsblatt.

The ramp-up plans also indicate that the production of other models will be postponed. “The successor to the ID.4, which is already on sale today, and another electric SUV will be produced later than previously planned,” writes Handelsblatt. The electric SUV is said to be the T-Sport, with production scheduled to start in 2031.

SSP to debut in 2028 – but not at VW

According to the report, the background to the decision is not only the known, ongoing software problems. On the one hand, the market launches of the new models should be better aligned with the currently somewhat weaker demand for electric vehicles. On the other hand, VW’s current cost-cutting programme could be to blame. Investments in new models can be stretched out, while existing vehicle platforms are being used for longer.

As a result, the launch of the SSP is to be pushed back a little further than VW’s top management announced just a few weeks ago, although not quite as much as with the Trinity: according to the documents, the electric Golf successor with the working title ID.Golf will go into production in autumn 2029 – VW brand boss Thomas Schäfer publicly spoke of 2028 at the Golf anniversary in June. “A short time later, a meeting of the Group Board of Management, at which Schäfer was also present, was to prove the brand boss wrong,” writes Handelsblatt. Citing VW circles, however, it is said that the launch could be brought forward a little – the ID.Golf is to be the first SSP model of the core brand.

However, according to the latest information, the Audi A4 e-tron will be the first model based on the SSP in the entire Group. The Ingolstadt-based company has only renamed the well-known mid-range combustion model the A5 to make room for the new model logic – even numbers for electric cars and odd numbers for combustion cars. However, it will probably be the end of 2028 before Audi makes use of this and launches an electric A4 on the market. Until then, Audi will not have an electric counterpart to the BMW i4.

The current ID.4 based on the MEB is due to receive a facelift in 2026 (and will presumably be converted to the more advanced MEB+ in the process). However, for the investments in the development of the MEB+ to be worthwhile, a certain service life of the models is necessary. This is one of the reasons why the new successor to the ID.4 based on the SSP will not be launched on the market until 2030 – and not 2028, as had been planned. Manager Magazin had already reported on a postponement of allegedly 15 months in July, but there was still talk of 2029 at that time. A delay, therefore, seems likely, but the exact extent is probably not yet entirely clear, even internally. VW insiders told the Handelsblatt that, as with the ID. Golf, the ID.4 successor, could also be brought forward slightly.

In the Manager Magazin report around four weeks ago, it was left open whether Trinity production in Zwickau would start in 2028 or not. Although a new SOP date at the end of 2032 would be an enormous delay, it would not be the first change in plans for the model. The Trinity was designed under VW boss Herbert Diess as a flagship model to demonstrate the capabilities of the new platform and lean and efficient production.

However, following the change of CEO to Oliver Blume in autumn of 2022, the Trinity project was radically redesigned. The originally designed electric saloon became a crossover/CUV; instead of being built in a completely new plant in Wolfsburg-Warmenau, the Trinity will be built in Zwickau. And instead of 2028 as the start of production, 2026 was initially planned.

handelsblatt.com (in German)