|
General Motors A Platform (FWD)
The General Motors A platform (informally called the A-body) was a mid-size platform designation used from 1982-1996. The same designation had previously been used for rear wheel drive mid-sized cars. The A platform was shared by the Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Pontiac 6000 and Chevrolet Celebrity. As part of their legacy, they became enormously popular — as well as synonymous with GM's most transparent example of badge engineering: the four were highlighted almost indistinguishably on the August 22, 1983 cover of Fortune magazine as examples of genericized uniformity, embarrassing the company and ultimately prompting GM to recommit to design leadership. Introduced for the 1982 model year, the A-Bodies were essentially similar in mechanical layout and interior space to the troubled X-car compacts on which they were based. With greater overall length allowed, they were classified as intermediates. Initially all four lines offered two and four door sedans for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing four automobile brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC (marque), GMC, and Cadillac, each a separate division of GM. By total sales, it has continuously been the largest automaker in the United States, and was the List of manufacturers by motor vehicle production, largest in the world for 77 years before losing the top spot to Toyota in 2008. General Motors operates manufacturing plants in eight countries. In addition to its four core brands, GM also holds interests in Chinese brands Baojun and SAIC-GM-Wuling, Wuling via SAIC-GM-Wuling, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile. GM further owns GM Defense, a namesake defense vehicles division which produces military vehicles for the United States government and military, the vehicle safety, security, and information ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Getrag
Getrag (), stylized as GETRAG, was a major supplier of transmission systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The company was founded on 1 May 1935, in Ludwigsburg, Germany, by Hermann Hagenmeyer; as the ''Getriebe und Zahnradfabrik Hermann Hagenmeyer GmbH & Cie KG''. Headquartered in Untergruppenbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Getrag manufactured and developed passenger car transmission products and solutions for the important automotive markets Europe, Asia, and North America with 24 locations and about 12,500 employees worldwide. In 2011, the company had a turnover of three billion euros. The company had three joint ventures: Getrag Ford Transmissions headquartered in Cologne with Ford Motor Company, Getrag (Jiangxi) Transmission Co. Ltd. with Jiangling Motors Corporation., Ltd. and Dongfeng Getrag Transmission with Dongfeng Motor Corporation. In addition, Getrag supplied transmissions to a variety of automotive manufacturers, including BMW ( Mini), Daimler ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortune (magazine)
''Fortune'' (stylized in all caps) is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, a global business media company. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. The magazine competes with ''Forbes'' and '' Bloomberg Businessweek'' in the national business magazine category and distinguishes itself with long, in-depth feature articles. The magazine regularly publishes ranked lists including ranking companies by revenue such as in the ''Fortune'' 500 that it has published annually since 1955, and in the ''Fortune'' Global 500. The magazine is also known for its annual ''Fortune Investor's Guide''. History ''Fortune'' was founded by ''Time'' magazine co-founder Henry Luce in 1929, who declared it as "the Ideal Super-Class Magazine", a "distinguished and de luxe" publication "vividly portraying, interpreting and recording the Industrial Civilization". Briton Hadden, Luce's business partner, was no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Badge Engineering
In the automotive industry, rebadging (also known as badge engineering, an intentionally ironic misnomer in that little or no actual engineering takes place) is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a manufacturer creates a distinct automobile by applying a new "badge" or trademark (brand, logo, or manufacturer's name/make/marque) to an existing product line. The term originated with the practice of replacing an automobile's emblems to create an ostensibly new model sold by a different maker. Changes may be confined to swapping badges and emblems, or may encompass minor styling differences, as with cosmetic changes to headlights, taillights, front and rear fascias, and even outer body skins. More extreme examples involve differing engines and drivetrains. The objective is "to spread the huge development costs of a new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GM A Platform (FWD)
The General Motors A platform (informally called the A-body) was a mid-size platform designation used from 1982-1996. The same designation had previously been used for rear wheel drive mid-sized cars. The A platform was shared by the Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Pontiac 6000 and Chevrolet Celebrity. As part of their legacy, they became enormously popular — as well as synonymous with GM's most transparent example of badge engineering: the four were highlighted almost indistinguishably on the August 22, 1983 cover of Fortune magazine as examples of genericized uniformity, embarrassing the company and ultimately prompting GM to recommit to design leadership. Introduced for the 1982 model year, the A-Bodies were essentially similar in mechanical layout and interior space to the troubled X-car compacts on which they were based. With greater overall length allowed, they were classified as intermediates. Initially all four lines offered two and four door sedans for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rear Wheel Drive
Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-wheel drive vehicles feature a longitudinally-mounted engine at the front of the car. Layout The most common layout for a rear-wheel drive car is with the engine and transmission at the front of the car, mounted longitudinally. Other layouts of rear-wheel drive cars include front-mid engine, rear-mid engine, and rear-engine. Some manufacturers, such as Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Porsche (944, 924, 928) and Chevrolet (C5, C6, and C7 Corvettes), place the engine at the front of the car and the transmission at the rear of the car, in order to provide a more balanced weight distribution. This configuration is often referred to as a transaxle since the transmission and axle are one unit. History 1890s to 1960s Many of the cars built in the 19th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automobile Platform
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. A car platform is not to be confused with a platform chassis, although such a chassis can be part of an automobile's design platform, as noted below. Definition and benefits A basic definition of a platform in cars, from a technical point of view, includes underbody and suspensions (with axles) — where the underbody is made of the front floor, rear floor, engine compartment, and frame (reinforcement of underbody). Key mechanical components that define an automobile platform in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mid-size Car
Mid-size—also known as intermediate—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than compact cars and smaller than full-size cars. "Large family car" is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in the European car classification. Mid-size cars are manufactured in a variety of body styles, including sedans, coupes, station wagons, hatchbacks, and convertibles. Compact executive cars can also fall under the mid-size category. History The automobile that defined this size in the United States was the Rambler Six that was introduced in 1956, although it was called a "compact" car at that time. Much smaller than any standard contemporary full-size cars, it was called a compact to distinguish it from the small imported cars that were being introduced into the marketplace. By the early 1960s, the car was renamed the Rambler Classic and while it retained its basic dimensions, it was now competing with an array of new "intermedia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
The Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera is a mid-size car manufactured and marketed for model years 1982–1996 by the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors — over a single generation. Body styles included a 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan, and the 4-door wagon. The Cutlass Ciera shared the front-wheel drive A platform with the Buick Century, Pontiac 6000 and Chevrolet Celebrity. Background The Cutlass Ciera and its A-Body platform twins, featured MacPherson strut front suspension, body-color urethane bumpers, flush-mounted glass, front-wheel drive, and on many models, fuel injection. The Cutlass Ciera shared the Cutlass nameplate with the smaller Cutlass Calais and the upscale Cutlass Supreme. Oldsmobile had previously used the Celebrity brand in the 1960s, but GM chose to give that name to Chevrolet. With the Ciera, Oldsmobile established Cutlass as sub-brand for its line of mainstream sedans and coupes. Initially, the Cutlass Ciera and its platform mates were marketed as prem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chevrolet Celebrity
The Chevrolet Celebrity is a front-drive, Mid-size car, mid-size passenger car line, manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet for model years 1982–1990, over a single generation. Marking the transition of the Mid-size car, mid-size Chevrolet range to front-wheel drive, the Celebrity succeeded the rear-drive Chevrolet Malibu line. Initially marketed between the Chevrolet Citation, Citation and the Chevrolet Impala, Impala within the Chevrolet model line, the Celebrity was later marketed between the Chevrolet Corsica, Corsica and Chevrolet Caprice, Caprice sedans. The Celebrity shared the General Motors A platform (FWD), front-wheel drive GM A platform with the Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, and Pontiac 6000 in two-door notchback coupe, four-door sedan, and five-door station wagon body styles. After the 1989 model year, the Celebrity sedan was replaced by the Chevrolet Lumina; the Celebrity station wagon was discontinued after 1990, with the Chevrolet Lumina APV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buick Century
Buick Century is the model name that was used by Buick for a line of upscale full-size cars from 1936 to 1942 and 1954 to 1958, as well as from 1973 to 2005 for mid-size cars. The first Buick Century debuted as the Series 60 then renamed in 1936 as a shorter and lighter model featuring the same engine as the bigger Roadmaster and Limited series giving it more performance while using the shorter wheelbase body of the Buick Special. During the 1930s and 1940s it was Buick's companion to the top level Roadmaster and was offered as a 2-door and 4-door sedan and convertible. The Century name was used on six generations of cars of varying sizes as well as performance and trim levels. In 1969, Buick developed a concept car known as the Century Cruiser. In the 1970s, the Century Regal became a separate model and market positioning between the two products changed from year to year depending on sales. The Century was updated to front wheel drive in 1982 and was Buick's 2-door coupe, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontiac 6000
The Pontiac 6000 is a mid-size automobile manufactured and marketed by Pontiac from the 1982 to 1991 model years. As Pontiac transitioned to a numeric model nomenclature in the early 1980s, the 6000 replaced the LeMans as the mid-size Pontiac, slotted between the Phoenix (later the Grand Am) and the Bonneville. Through its production life, the 6000 was offered as a two-door and four-door notchback sedan and as a five-door station wagon. The model line utilized the front-wheel drive GM A platform. Sharing a platform with the Buick Century, Chevrolet Celebrity (replacing the Malibu), and Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera (replacing the Cutlass Supreme sedan), the 6000 shared its roofline with the Cutlass Ciera. The 6000 STE was a sport-tuned model unique to Pontiac; the STE was named to the Car and Driver Ten Best three times (from 1983 to 1985). Following the discontinuation of its full-size namesake, the 6000 Safari was the final Pontiac to use the nameplate, becoming the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
