Over the decades, Volkswagen has managed to position parts sharing as one of its most powerful money-saving methods. With the need to cut costs in mind, VW created the Modularer Querbaukasten, or MQB, vehicle architecture. Audi, SEAT, and Škoda all use the platform alongside Volkswagen, but each brand has its own, unique styling that sets the models apart, despite their shared bones.
According to Volkswagen itself, the MQB strategy drastically reduced development costs, as well as production timeframes. One-time expenses also dropped, as tooling investments were not nearly as widespread. While this all sounds great, there's a huge downside to sharing a platform: shared defects. At present, roughly four million VW, Audi, Škoda, and SEAT models are suffering through a recall campaign due to a corrosion-prone steering rack fastener. The fix is easy, but the issue is widespread, and VW's current sales stagnation doesn't help.
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