The
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 f ...
K platform (commonly called the K-body) was an
automobile platform designation used for
front wheel drive Cadillac
Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...
models beginning in 1980. It replaced the
rear wheel drive K platform.
The K-body designation was used for
sedans; similar
coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...
models used the nearly identical
GM E platform
The General Motors Corporation, General Motors E platform or E-body was the automobile platform designation used for a number of personal luxury cars produced from 1963 to 2002. Notably, early E-bodies were produced in both front wheel drive an ...
. The
GM G platform (FWD) was also based on the K. Beginning in 1986 K- and E-bodies were produced at GM's high-tech
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant. Unlike the E-body, the K designation has been exclusive to Cadillac.
The original FWD K-body
Cadillac Seville was shared with the downsized
E-body Cadillac Eldorado beginning in 1980. In 1986, the Seville was replaced with an even smaller front wheel drive model, also given the K designation. This new model featured a
transversely mounted engine instead of a
longitudinally mounted one like its predecessor. The Seville was lengthened in 1992, and the
DeVille was moved from the
GM C platform to the K platform in 1994. Starting with the 1998 Cadillac Seville, the K platform vehicles were moved to the
G platform, however GM continued to call it the K platform.
Vehicles
* 1980–1997
Cadillac Seville
* 1994–1999
Cadillac (Sedan) DeVille
References
List of GM VIN codes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gm K Platform (Fwd)
K 2