What on earth is auto platform?

Don’t know when the word “platform” has become a buzzword in everyone’s mouth, especially in the automotive industry. This word often comes out of the mouths of OEMs, media, or car experts. What kind of existence is the platform?

We might as well do some understanding together.

First, we need to understand the reasons for platformization. 

The development of automobiles has a history of hundreds of years. At the beginning of its development, it took a customized route, which will naturally make each car unique and unique.

The production process is too sophisticated, it takes a long time to produce a car, which greatly affects the production of cars and naturally affects the benefits of OEMs.

Therefore, in the process of constant exploration, the automobile production mode has evolved from the previous studio mode to the assembly line mode. The biggest advantage of this change is the ability to produce cars in batches, which greatly improves efficiency, and naturally allows auto companies to benefit the most.

However, the cars produced by the assembly line are all the same. They have no individuality at all. The same models and colors are the same. This is easy to make people feel fatigued. Due to the reduction in selectivity, it naturally leads to the sales of cars. Weaken.

When people’s requirements for automobiles are getting higher and higher, a single assembly line operation can no longer adapt to the trend of the times. More and more automobile products are emerging in an endless stream. As the speed of product upgrades accelerates, a new kind of car will inevitably be derived. Mode, this is the automotive platform we are talking about.

The concept of platform is very abstract. It isn't composed of a single variety, but contains many elements of the car. A platform has its complete set of systems. Its advanced point is that even different types of cars can share some parts. This includes not only the chassis, suspension, and other components, but also the core part of the car, the engine. And gearboxes.

In layman's terms, the advancement of the automotive platform is a great progress in the history of car building, but it is also a manifestation of people's reluctance to use their hands and brains.

Because before the advent of the platform, the advent of each car involved a lot of designer's efforts, which still has certain requirements for the designer, because the structure of different cars is different, whether it is from appearance to interior, or automobile parts, all require designers to carefully consider and build. From a certain aspect, it naturally reduces the efficiency, and the excessively high labor costs invisibly increase the cost.

However, using the automotive platform to build cars will not face such problems at all. It is not only fast and convenient, but also cost-saving, so it is very popular with OEMs.

First, it effectively reduces the cost of producing cars, because after platformization, many parts of the car can be shared. Naturally, the amount when purchasing will be greatly reduced, and the corresponding expenditure will also be greatly reduced.

Second, it effectively reduces the cost of automobile research and development. Due to the cooperation of many parties, the automobile research and development cycle will be greatly shortened. This can not only save a lot of manpower, but also improve the production efficiency of the automobile. Naturally, the research and development cost the upper will drop a lot.

This is obviously not. On the same platform, the cars produced may not be the same. They are only the same in the use of certain parts, but it does not mean that all the components are the same.

For example, it is also the TNGA platform, and the Camry and Lexus it produces are not at the same level, even for other platforms.

As for the safety of the car platform, it is related to the various materials, structure and craftsmanship of the platform itself, and there is no direct connection with the new and old of the platform. Objectively speaking, the quality of the platform does affect the safety of the car, but this impact is negligible, and the new platform may not be better. On the contrary, there are many old platforms that have undergone constant tempering and will become even more stable after the test. 

Since each car has its own position at the beginning of the design, the production and manufacturing are carried out completely in accordance with the design requirements. The platform is just a tool, and it really does not play a decisive role in the quality of the car.

The times are advancing, and people's ideas are advancing, which determines that the automobile manufacturing industry must also advance. The emergence of the platform is indeed a great opportunity for OEMs, and it is also beneficial to consumers. After all, after saving costs, the price of cars will also be reduced, so people can spend less money to buy more Good car.

This should be the platform that everyone has heard the most. The MQB platform has replaced the original PQ25, PQ35 and PQ46 platforms. Thanks to this modular platform with flexible chassis structure, if you change the wheelbase and match different engines and gearboxes, you can produce different types and different levels of cars, so cars from A00 to B can be in MQB Production on the platform.

MLB is the abbreviation of Modularer Lngsbaukasten in German, meaning "Longitudinal Engine Standardization Platform". This platform was completed under the auspices of Audi and was the product of the Volkswagen Group in 2007 after the platform integration. The MLB Evo platform that often appears now can be said to be the second-generation product of MLB. This platform is also modularized. This platform is the first to be used in Audi's new Q7. Thanks to the contribution of the latest platform, the new Audi Q7 has reduced the weight of 363Kg compared with the previous generation model. In addition, the MLB Evo platform is also used in Audi's new A4, Audi's new A8 and the world's most luxurious SUV-Bentley Bentayga.

The full name of Mercedes-Benz MFA is Mercedes Front-wheel-drive Architecture, which was released by Mercedes-Benz during its 125th anniversary celebration. Although it is called a front-wheel drive platform, MFA can be applied to a four-wheel drive system. Compared with the previous generation platform, the front and rear suspension of MFA adopts a front McPherson and rear multi-link structure respectively. At the same time, it can also be extended to different levels of models. Therefore, the platform can not only provide better maneuverability to the vehicle, but also has strong flexibility.

UKL is the abbreviation of German Unter Klasse, which means "compact platform". Like the Volkswagen MQB and Mercedes-Benz MFA platforms, they are all horizontal front-wheel drive platforms. The UKL platform can be equipped with smaller displacement engines, such as 1.2T and 1.5T three-cylinder engines, as well as 2.0T engines. In addition, due to cost considerations, MINI has also been gradually transplanted to the UKL platform for development. BMW claims that in the future, models built on the UKL platform will account for 40% of the group's total.

Like the Volkswagen PQ35 platform, this platform is limited to A-class cars. But in order to be able to compete with competitors, GM integrated the advantages of the Delta and Theta (SUV models) platform, and then launched the D2XX platform, mainly used in Buick Encore, Chevrolet Cruze and other models. The D2XX platform is a new generation of Delta platform, where D represents the general compact car platform, 2 represents the new generation, and the latter XX represents the code name of the model that will be born in the future.

TNGA can be said to be Toyota's latest platform. The full name of TNGA is Toyota New Global Architecture, which means "Toyota Global Architecture." Models built using this platform will use many generalized parts. Toyota's common shared components can cover equipment such as chassis suspension, engine, transmission system, transmission, and cockpit seats. So far, the first model on the TNGA platform is the fourth-generation Prius. In the future, the platform will also be used in the new Yaris, Camry, RAV4 and other models. By 2020, half of Toyota's global sales will use the TNGA platform.

After Volvo broke away from its former owner: Ford, it urgently needs a product to prove its technical strength, and SPA is what Volvo needs. The full name of SPA modular platform is Scalable Product Architecture. As can be seen from the name, this modular platform can change the wheelbase, front and rear overhangs, and height of the vehicle according to the needs of the designer, and it can also be equipped with different power systems, including Volvo" Efficient dual-engine" hybrid system. This also means that SPA is not only a cross-level platform, but also has a high degree of flexibility.