page_title: Car platform
section_title: Multiple body variants
hierarchical_section_title: Car platform / Definition and benefits / Multiple body variants
caption_attribution_description: Nissan Serena C24 High-roof (2000-6 ~ 2001-11)
context_page_description: A car platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of cars, often from different, but somewhat related marques. It is practiced in the automotive industry to reduce the costs associated with the development of products by basing those products on a smaller number of platforms. This further allows companies to create distinct models from a design perspective on similar underpinnings.
context_section_description: In recent years for monocoque chassis, platform-sharing combined with advanced and flexible-manufacturing technology enable automakers to sharply reduce product development and changeover times, while modular design and assembly allow building a greater variety of vehicles from one basic set of engineered components. Pictured below is the Nissan MS platform, where designs including 5-door hatchback, sedan, compact SUV and minivan were built on a common floor panel and many shared functional assemblies such as engine, transmission and chassis components. 
  Many vendors refer to this as product or vehicle architecture. The concept of product architecture is the scheme by which the function of a product is allocated to physical components.
  The use of a platform strategy provides several benefits:
  Greater flexibility across plants (the possibility of transferring production from one plant to another due to standardization)
  Cost reduction through using resources on a global scale
  Increased utilization of plants (higher productivity due to the reduction in the number of differences)
  Reduction of the number of platforms as a result of their localization on a worldwide basis
  The car platform strategy has become important in new product development and in the innovation process. The finished products have to be responsive to market needs and to demonstrate distinctiveness while – at the same time – they must be developed and produced at low cost. Adopting such a strategy affects the development process and also has an important impact on an automaker's organizational structure. A platform strategy also offers advantages for the globalization process of automobile firms.
  Because automakers spend the majority of time and money on the development of platforms, platform sharing affords manufacturers the ability to cut costs on research and development by spreading it over several product lines. Manufacturers are then able to offer products at a lower cost to consumers. Additionally, economies of scale are increased, as is return on investment.
caption: Nissan Serena Minivan
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