I've been thinking about the way peopple discuss how one car is built on a platform shared by another car or even another automaker. like the new mustang sharing a platform with the explorer. or the vw's and audi's sharing a platform between cars. I get the vw and audi shares as they seem to be very similar vehicles in terms of size and performance etc. but when the mustang and explorer share one, it got me wondering. exactly what is included in the platform design? Can anyone help me understand this?
Snrub
HalfDork
11/26/18 5:23 p.m.
It's a vague term. I believe it can mean as little as part of a subframe, or crossmember. At lot of the time they're bits that can be easily stretched/manipulated in CAD and in the manufacturing processes. It's a core part of the design that can be tweaked for different applications. A large vehicle and a smaller vehicle on the same platform may share very few actual parts, but certain proportions/ratios may be common as sizes are manipulated. Other times the "platform" between vehicles may mean common frame/body/suspension parts.
Sometimes you'll see small cars that are heavier than they should be because of platform sharing. I suspect this is because the parts were designed to be beefier and even scaling them down in CAD doesn't mean they're ideally suited. Sometimes larger vehicles like minivans will have poor crash test results, I suspect this is the opposite problem, they're asking unibody bits to do more than they're capable. of.
RossD
MegaDork
11/26/18 5:42 p.m.
In reply to Snrub :
Thats a pretty good description, I am guessing.
What it means to the GRMer, is if you are looking for bolt on parts to a car, platform sisters are a great starting point.
I keep thinking about cars that share a platform with small SUV/CUV to make a off road or a rally car with tall suspension. Like a first gen Mazda 6 wagon V6/6MT with a first gen CX-9 suspension. I have no idea if it will work but if I get more time (yeah right) I could see looking into building something like that.
NOHOME
UltimaDork
11/26/18 6:41 p.m.
Think of it as a challenge project sort of.
You are given a budget of ten bazzilion dollars to create a new car. Two bazzilion you can spend anywhere your want to make your car your ownunique design. The other eight bazzilion you have to spend buying from this inventory of in-house parts that are also shared under the same rules by five other projects.
Be as creative and innovative as you can be under those rules and you have a "platform" car. In (very) broad terms, the Molvo would be a Ford platform...eh?
Pete
A "platform" usually means that the corners of the car are at least related, if not the same. For example, the Focus, Escape, Cmax, Transit Connect, and a few Mazdas and Volvos sort of shared the platform. On all of the cars (except maybe the Transit Connect), the subframes, suspension, steering, brakes, safety, etc. are shared.
On some newer platforms like the VW MQB or Volvo SPA, there are different "flavors" for length and sometimes width, but nearly everything else is fully shared.
Here's a bare XC90 body:
And here's a bare S60 body:
See how the front structure, firewall, driver's footwell area, and even things like the rear wheel well are identical?
Sharing that engineering work lets you spend your 8 bazillion dollars on safety, comfort, and experience improvements that buy you two cars for only a little bit more than one car.
There's a pretty good article on the subject that I ran across here:
https://www.allpar.com/ed/platforms.html
A good short version is that cars on the same platform share many common mounting points, particularly for the drivetrain and front suspension.
So you want to build a rwd 6 speed coyote explorer and a lifted awd Ecoboost mustang eh?
