Patent ID: 7574800

Claim:
A method for producing a vehicle body, the method comprising: fabricating an underbody having one or more underbody bolting flanges attached thereto, with each underbody bolting flange being adapted for bolted attachment to a mating bodyside bolting flange; fabricating a bodyside including a supplemental bodyside support structure having attached thereto one or more bodyside bolting flanges, with each bodyside bolting flange being adapted for bolted attachment to one of the underbody bolting flanges; attaching the underbody to the bodyside; bolting the one or more underbody flanges to a mating bodyside bolting flange; fabricating a bodyside subassembly; fabricating the bodyside subassembly to include a sill joining a hinge pillar to a B-pillar, an A-pillar extending upwardly from the hinge pillar, and a quarter panel defining a beltline extending from the B-pillar to a D-pillar area defined by the quarter panel; fabricating the supplemental bodyside support structure to include a sill member joining a hinge pillar member to a B-pillar member, an A-pillar member extending upwardly from the hinge pillar member, and a quarter panel member extending along the beltline from the B-pillar member of the supplemental bodyside support structure to the D-pillar area; and joining the supplemental bodyside support to the bodyside subassembly to form the bodyside.