GM W platform

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

W-body
Manufacturer General Motors
Also called GM10
Production 1988–2009
Predecessor GM G platform (RWD)
Class Mid-size car
Full-size car
Body style(s) 4-door sedan
2-door coupe
Engine(s) 2.5 L Iron Duke I4
2.3 L Quad-4 I4
2.8 L 2.8L V6
3.1 L 3100 V6
3.4 L Twin Dual Cam V6
3.5 L DOHC V6
3.5 L 3.5 V6
3.6 L LY7 V6
3.8 L 3800 V6
3.8 L L67 V6
3.9 L 3.9 V6
5.3 L LS4 V8
Transmission(s) 4-speed 4T60 automatic
4-speed 4T65 automatic
Wheelbase 107.5 in (2730 mm)
109.0 in (2769 mm)
110.5 in (2807 mm)
Vehicles Buick Century
Buick LaCrosse
Buick Regal
Chevrolet Impala
Chevrolet Lumina
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
Oldsmobile Intrigue
Pontiac Grand Prix

The W-body is an automobile platform from General Motors which underpins mid-size cars with front-wheel drive. The platform, originally code named GM10, began in 1982 under Chairman Roger B. Smith and debuted in 1988 with the Pontiac Grand Prix, the Buick Regal, and the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupés. Sedans followed for 1990. The platform cost $7 billion to develop and was to replace all midsize cars produced by Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick. The plan was huge in scope, calling for seven plants that would each assemble 250,000 of the cars, or 21% of the total U.S. car market [1]. It was badly executed from the start, but GM’s 1984 reorganization, combined with changing market dynamics wrought havoc on the program and it never recovered. By 1989, the year before the last of the original GM10's were launched, GM was losing $2000 on every one of the cars it produced [2]. The later revision of this platform was known as the MS2000 or simply the W2-Car. Early versions used a fiberglass monoleaf spring in the rear, while second generation cars and the 1995 and up Lumina use a fully independent suspension front and rear with coil springs.

Vehicles using the W-body include:

[edit] 2004

The W platform was updated in 2004 rather than being replaced by a planned stretched Epsilon platform. The cars are built at GM's two Oshawa, Ontario plants. The transverse use of GM's small-block engine in the W-bodies was a major addition for 2005.

Vehicles using the updated W platform:

The rear wheel drive GM Zeta platform will replace the W-body, K-Body & G-body after 2010, and has already replaced the V-body.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Alex Taylor III, Andrew Erdman, Justin Martin, and Tricia Welsh, "U.S. Cars Come Back", Fortune, November 16, 1992
  2. ^ Robert A.G. Monks, "GM Corporate Governance Case Study"
Languages