All round car designer

Chapter 256 Platform Strategy
The so-called platform development is actually not such a novel concept. If we start from Zhou Fei’s previous life, as early as the 60s, General Motors and Ford Motors in the United States had already developed new models in this way. However, after entering the 90s, affected by the economic crisis, in order to reduce costs, automakers' platform strategy has once again gained the attention of major automakers.

And over time, almost every automaker has developed several platforms of their own.

Even in the current world, platformization is not an unfamiliar term. The three major auto giants headed by Dafeng Automobile all have their own development platforms, but each company has different names for "platformization". Just the same.

The reason why the platform strategy can be popular among major automakers is that when consumers buy a car, they are most concerned about the specific performance of the vehicle, the color of the vehicle, and the interior parts, etc. Regarding how the chassis of the vehicle is designed, whether the engine is mounted horizontally or vertically, how the gearbox is designed, these invisible and intangible parts, consumers actually do not give too much attention when buying a car. focus on.

After all, a car is a highly specialized product. When consumers buy a car, what can attract them at once is actually the shape of the car, how the interior parts are, as well as the price and performance. Consumers may not understand how the engine of this car works.

Therefore, from a sales point of view, it is actually a good competitive strategy to enhance the design of vehicle styling and reduce the homogeneity between cars.

Therefore, the idea of ​​the platform strategy is very simple. Since consumers do not pay too much attention to components such as chassis and engine, can car designers share these systems when developing vehicles?

The engine and suspension are used as a common structure. While designing one car, the design of the next car is also considered, and only the body shape and interior are carefully crafted. This design method , is actually the core idea of ​​the platform strategy.

For example, when Mercedes-Benz is developing a luxury car project, it can use the engine and chassis of the Golf sedan, and then only need to redesign the appearance and interior of the luxury car.

Of course, this explanation is only for a better understanding. When the platform strategy is implemented, it is not as simple as it is said. How to design a general chassis structure and how to rely on these general structures for subsequent models are all important. It takes a lot of time and effort to design.

It doesn't mean that just taking out a car can be used as the basis of the development platform, so that all subsequent cars can be developed according to this model.

The commonality of the platform strategy is the group development model. At the beginning of the platform design, the planning of all models on the same platform is considered, forming a situation where three levels of platform development, model development and assembly development go hand in hand.

In the world before Zhou Fei’s rebirth, Volkswagen was the car manufacturer that had the deepest strategy of platformization, and the most famous platform was the MQB platform that consumers are more familiar with.

The MQB platform is specially used to produce all models from A0 to B with a transverse engine structure. Cars such as Volkswagen Golf, Tiguan, Audi A3, Passat, and Magotan are all produced on the MQB platform.However, 95% of the Volkswagen brand cars produced in China were produced and designed on the MQB platform.

In addition, Volkswagen also has MLB platform specially used for cars with longitudinal engine structure, MSB platform for all models with front and rear drive structure, etc. It can be said that Volkswagen has always been the leader in the road of platform strategy .

In addition to Volkswagen, Toyota's TNGA platform, BMW's UKL platform, and Volvo's SPA platform are all well-known development platforms in the automotive industry.

Of course, the platform strategy can greatly reduce the development cost and development cycle of vehicles, but it does not mean that platformization is beneficial and harmless.In the long run, it will lead to the company's models showing a "face-like" situation.

The most obvious "face makeup" car manufacturer is Volkswagen AG. This phenomenon is very obvious in the series of Volkswagen models. Many models of Volkswagen, even models of different levels, have a long face. Because of the similar front face, some people jokingly call this situation "the face of the public matryoshka".

However, this shortcoming is not enough to be a reason to reject platformization. Compared with the shortcoming of "Facebookization", the benefits that platformization can bring far exceed this shortcoming, and you only need to pay attention to it when designing. The phenomenon of facial makeup can still be effectively avoided.

Just like Volkswagen, although it has the disadvantage of "masturbation baby face", it still cannot conceal the fact that Volkswagen's sales are very good. Therefore, compared with the benefits brought by platformization, this disadvantage is not worth mentioning at all.

Zhou Fei's words also aroused the interest of many people present. For a long time, the platform strategy has always been the "privilege" of foreign auto giants. Automobile giants such as Dafeng, Futong, and Benma can have today's status, and platformization has played a very important role in it.

But looking at the country, except for a few joint venture manufacturers who copied their car platforms with the help of corresponding giants, none of the other Chinese car manufacturers has their own development platform!

The idea of ​​platform is simple to say, but once it is designed, it is not so easy. Many details involved in it require manufacturers to have rich experience and overall control capabilities. Back then, it was as strong as Weipeng Automobile, and it was announced that it was ready to develop After my own platform, it was also because of various difficulties that I had to let it go.

If Wei Peng had successfully developed its own platform, perhaps it would not have encountered these crises in the future.

Therefore, when Zhou Fei announced that Feichi Company would also implement a platform strategy internally, the executives present were both excited and at the same time worried. Could they complete this task on their own?

Will they also die halfway like the Wei Peng car back then?
"Mr. Zhou, can we really create our own platform?" The person in charge of the product department asked the aspirations of everyone present.

"I know what everyone is worried about, and I also understand that the implementation of the platform strategy has always been a long-cherished wish of the Chinese people. Because of this, we have to work harder to design our own development platform for Mercedes-Benz."

Zhou Fei smiled, and then continued, "So this time the platformization strategy will be led by me personally. From the platform's construction to the final operation, I will personally handle all the details, so please rest assured, We will produce luxury cars, and we will also produce platforms!"

(End of this chapter)