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Written by Paul Horrell
Ulrich Hackenberg, one of the most influential and prolific car engineers of the modern era, retired from the VW Group last week. It was an unscheduled exit.The extraordinary flowering in the number of different models built by the Group in recent years is a direct result of Hackenberg"s work. It"s why they could make the latest Audi TTS so different from, say, the Skoda Superb TDi and new plug-in VW Tiguan GTE. And more important, do it at a profit.For it was Hackenberg who came up with the modular kit" approach to car making. Before that, manufacturers built platform-shared" machinery that was profitable but created cars too alike. Or they had to develop very separate underpinnings, which made many niche models unjustifiable.Hackenberg"s kits", or in German Baukasten", were absolutely rigid in defining certain dimensions of the cars suspension mounts, the relationship between the engine and pedals, for instance. Also the slots for the air con and infotainment systems, and the electrical architecture. This means the powertrain and crash structures, and the assembly lines, can be made common. These are the really big investments where sharing pays off.But it also means much of the rest of the car can be varied, so they"re not all boringly similar.Hackenberg was in charge of product strategy at Audi when he devised the first of his kits. This was the MLB, the longitudinal-engined kit that saw Audi build aluminium and steel saloons (A8 to A4) and Bentley make its big coupe, the Continental GT.Once he"d nailed that, Hackenberg moved to VW and embarked on his transverse-engined kit, the MQB. It was the pinnacle of his life"s work, co-ordinating four brands, and cars all the way from supermini-sized to seven-seat SUV. We haven"t seen the half of them yet. They come as petrol, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric.
Date: 8 Dec 2015
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 539
Ulrich Hackenberg, one of the most influential and prolific car engineers of the modern era, retired from the VW Group last week. It was an unscheduled exit.The extraordinary flowering in the number of different models built by the Group in recent years is a direct result of Hackenberg"s work. It"s why they could make the latest Audi TTS so different from, say, the Skoda Superb TDi and new plug-in VW Tiguan GTE. And more important, do it at a profit.For it was Hackenberg who came up with the modular kit" approach to car making. Before that, manufacturers built platform-shared" machinery that was profitable but created cars too alike. Or they had to develop very separate underpinnings, which made many niche models unjustifiable.Hackenberg"s kits", or in German Baukasten", were absolutely rigid in defining certain dimensions of the cars suspension mounts, the relationship between the engine and pedals, for instance. Also the slots for the air con and infotainment systems, and the electrical architecture. This means the powertrain and crash structures, and the assembly lines, can be made common. These are the really big investments where sharing pays off.But it also means much of the rest of the car can be varied, so they"re not all boringly similar.Hackenberg was in charge of product strategy at Audi when he devised the first of his kits. This was the MLB, the longitudinal-engined kit that saw Audi build aluminium and steel saloons (A8 to A4) and Bentley make its big coupe, the Continental GT.Once he"d nailed that, Hackenberg moved to VW and embarked on his transverse-engined kit, the MQB. It was the pinnacle of his life"s work, co-ordinating four brands, and cars all the way from supermini-sized to seven-seat SUV. We haven"t seen the half of them yet. They come as petrol, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric.
Date: 8 Dec 2015
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 539
