Different outside, same inside
Car makers have always relied on mint-fresh models to drive sales and wrest market share. Ironically, though, even as auto giants continue to churn out new products, they are also adopting common production platforms.
This allows several, sometimes very different, vehicles to be developed with similar components. Once a platform has been developed, individual car development costs can be slashed drastically.
Indeed, globally, the number of platforms is shrinking while the number of vehicles developed from a single platform has shot up.
EXAMPLES:
Volkswagen PQ35 Platform
Nobody takes the platform philosophy as seriously as the Volkswagen Group. So, cars made by Audi, Skoda, Seat and Volkswagen have more than a corporate owner in common. In India, the following cars have been built on the common PQ35 platform:
- Audi TT
- Skoda Laura
- Volkswagen Jetta
- Skoda Yeti
GM Theta Platform
When General Motors and Suzuki Motor Corporation had a tie-up, they shared some similar platforms, particularly on compact sports utility vehicles (SUVs). Thus, the Suzuki Grand Vitara and Chevrolet Captiva have a lot in common (though the Grand Vitara is not a “true” platform car as it has a different engine and engine layout).
Toyota Aygo/Citroen C1/Peugeot 107
These cars are essentially the same, sharing the same body but with slightly changed interiors and an altered rear-end. They're even made in the same factory in the Czech Republic, and when Toyota was recently forced to recall cars due to a fault in the accelerator, Puegeot and Citroen had to do so as well.
