GM W platform

W-body
Overview
Manufacturer General Motors
Also called GM10
Production 1988–2016
Body and chassis
Class Mid-size (D) platform
Large car (E) platform
Layout FF layout
Body style(s) 4-door sedan
2-door coupe
2-door convertible
Vehicles Buick Century
Buick LaCrosse
Buick Regal
Chevrolet Impala
Chevrolet Impala Limited
Chevrolet Lumina
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
Oldsmobile Intrigue
Pontiac Grand Prix
Powertrain
Engine(s) 122 I4
Iron Duke I4
Quad-4 I4
60° V6
Shortstar V6
High Value V6
High Feature V6
Buick V6
LS4 V8
Transmission(s) 3-speed 3T40 automatic
4-speed 4T60 automatic
4-speed 4T60-HD automatic
4-speed 4T65 automatic
4-speed 4T60-E automatic
4-speed 4T65-E automatic
4-speed 4T65E-HD automatic
5-speed Getrag 282 manual
5-speed Getrag 284 Manual
6-speed 6T70 automatic
Dimensions
Wheelbase 107.5 in (2730 mm)
109.0 in (2769 mm)
110.5 in (2807 mm)
Chronology
Predecessor GM G platform (RWD)
GM A platform (FWD)
GM B platform
Successor GM Epsilon platform
GM Zeta platform(for Chevrolet SS for FWD Impala SS)

The W-body was an automobile platform from General Motors which underpinned 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 engineering work was done by Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada (CPC) group; also known as the small car division.

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 with 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]

1996 Buick Regal with Transverse leaf spring rear suspension

The later revision of this platform was known as the MS2000 or simply the W2-Car. Early versions used a transversely installed, fiberglass mono-leaf spring combined with struts in the rear. The "generation 1.5" W-body models had updated rear suspensions that used coil springs instead of the transverse leaf spring design inspired by the Chevrolet Corvette. For the 1997 model year the second generation W-body was released with a MacPherson strut coil spring design.

The W platform was updated in 2004 rather than being replaced by a stretched Epsilon platform, as had been planned. Metal fabrication of the floor pan for W-body cars were performed at the Parma Metal Center in Parma, Ohio. The cars were built at GM's Oshawa Car Assembly. The transverse use of GM's small-block engine in the W-bodies was a major addition for 2005.

The GM W Platform was phased out with the production of the new long-wheelbase Epsilon II platform. The last car produced on the W platform was the ninth generation of the Chevrolet Impala, which was replaced by the Epsilon-based tenth-generation Impala, beginning in model year 2014. GM continued to produce the W-body Impala to fleet customers only under the name Impala Limited until production ended in May 2016.[3]

Vehicles using the W-body include:

References

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