- Volkswagen’s flagship EV, Mission Trinity, remains to be alive
- The automaker will use its Rivian-sourced electrical structure to construct it right into a Software program-Outlined Automobile
- VW plans to first implement the SDV structure within the Audi and Porsche manufacturers, adopted by a future electrical variant of the long-lasting Golf
Volkswagen’s flagship EV, coined “Mission Trinity,” has been puffed up because the German model’s saving grace in a time when VW has gone from only a cool man model to 1 that’s struggling to persuade folks to purchase their automobiles. However, VW has additionally been kicking Trinity’s can down the highway, delaying it in favor of different automobiles like the brand new Golf EV and members of the present ID-family lineup. Now we all know why.
It seems that Volkswagen is de facto taking to its new partnership with Rivian—in any case, it is spending $5 billion on the three way partnership for a cause. And Trinity? Properly, its flagship EV ought to be utilizing its new flagship structure. And that is precisely what the automaker plans on doing, in keeping with Automotive Information.
It seems that Mission Trinity is alive, though delayed, and remains to be deliberate to have all these nifty options like Stage 4 self-driving. A part of the rationale for that delay is not simply to first transfer ahead with a extra “iconic product,” as VW justifyingly calls the electrified model of the Golf, however to additionally give the automaker a while to determine methods to finest implement the brand new Software program-Outlined Automobile structure borrowed from its joint partnership with Rivian.
“We selected methods to do the software-defined car,” VW’s CEO, Thomas Schafer, throughout a media roundtable. “It is going to occur with Rivian, the three way partnership, the place we put the brand new electrical electronics structure collectively. However we’ve additionally determined that we wish to begin this journey with a extra iconic product. So we’ll begin with the Golf.”
The Golf might be proven in 2029, adopted by Trinity at a later date. Whereas this does not explicitly give a timeline to Trinity’s launch, it does affirm earlier reviews from the German newspaper Handelsblatt that Trinity could be pushed again in favor of the Golf EV and that its launch wouldn’t be in 2026 as initially meant. Present rumors level to a reveal in 2032 on the earliest.
That being mentioned, do not count on to see 1,000,000 VW Trinities (or no matter Volkswagen finally ends up calling it) on the highway. The automobile is deliberate to be a bespoke product—assume the venerable Phaeton, however electrical as a substitute of the area of interest W12 below the hood. I am undecided that is one of the best transfer for Volkswagen proper now, however perhaps issues will flip round within the subsequent eight years.
“We simply switched just a little bit, moved it out just a little bit, not as a result of we don’t see it as an enormous precedence, however Trinity was by no means designed as a quantity car,” mentioned Schafer.
The Golf will not be the primary EV in Volkswagen’s household of manufacturers to get Rivian therapy. Schafer confirmed that Porsche and Audi would be the first manufacturers to obtain the brand new electrical structure as early as 2027. This tracks with the thought of costlier and experimental tech being stuffed in high-end manufacturers earlier than trickling right down to the mass market. However concern not—the structure will finally underpin automobiles throughout the VW household of manufacturers, from low-cost compacts to luxurious SUVs (and perhaps even sport-focused vehicles as properly).
As for Mission Trinity, properly, that also seems to be Volkswagen’s Polaris greater than anything, only a bit delayed now. If spectacular sufficient, perhaps Trinity can spark some curiosity again within the VW model for the mass market, even when the automobile is not meant to be in-built massive numbers. The vital factor is that Volkswagen is utilizing the tech to construct a thicker spine, and Trinity might be one of the crucial vital constructing blocks alongside the way in which.
