Ford’s global C platform underpins a variety of popular models and new details are starting to emerge about the next-generation architecture.
According to Automobile, the next-generation platform will be highly flexible and could be ready as soon as 2020. The platform is currently under development in Germany and early indications suggest it will be able to underpin a wide variety of vehicles including models with alternative powertrains.
Ford is taking the latter idea into serious consideration as the company expects electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids to account for 30 percent of the global automotive market by 2030. As a result, the new C platform is being designed to accommodate an assortment of powertrains as well as high-tech electronics and large battery packs.
Besides the greater flexibility, the new C platform will become one of Ford’s first architectures developed with autonomous driving in mind. There’s no word on specifics but the company has been testing autonomous driving systems for a couple of years and is already developing a Level 4 autonomous vehicle. Ford is also slated to launch to a fully-autonomous vehicle for ride sharing services in 2021.
