Separate Chassis Platform from Body

[Goblin]

I hope this is in the plans for the future. A car platform should be separate from the body. Multiple models could be built using a single platform, and updates to models can be made without having to build a new platform.

[speedwarriorhemi]

As in Body-On-Frame like them FoMoCo “Panther" Police Interceptors?

[robert.norgren]

More like: Audi A3, Audi TT, VW Golf, VW Scirocco + more, all share the same platform.

[[CAMSO] MrChips]

Unfortunately with the way that Automation is designed, this is not possible.

In its place, we have - in Campaign Mode - the concept of engineering familiarity, which gives you increasingly large discounts on the design of a car, based on what you have done before. It's not exactly the same as having full platform engineering, for sure, but the end result is fairly close. Moreover, with how body variants work, and with how large some of the body variant families are getting, you can build a pretty wide model range on just one family of bodies, using a single engine family too no less.

[El Rushbo]

Perhaps a workaround with some body types that have different styles but is the same "body" I know there are some in the game already that are both SUV style and sedan on the same platform.

A real life example would be the previous gen Ford Taurus and Explorer. Particularly the police interceptors.

[Goblin]

One other thing about the platforms being locked to a body style is the way that effects factories. You can only produce cars with the same body in a single factory. If you want to build more than one car under different platforms you have to have a new factory for each one - and that is far too costly. From a game perspective it seems the best option is to choose body styles that have the most options, otherwise you'll need separate factories for cars, trucks, vans, convertibles, etc.

[Medu Salem]

Originally posted by Edguy616:

One other thing about the platforms being locked to a body style is the way that effects factories. You can only produce cars with the same body in a single factory. If you want to build more than one car under different platforms you have to have a new factory for each one - and that is far too costly. From a game perspective it seems the best option is to choose body styles that have the most options, otherwise you'll need separate factories for cars, trucks, vans, convertibles, etc.

If you play a generalist company then eventually you want seperate models / factories for various car types anyway.

One problem there is the wheelbase:

• Sports demographics llike small, agile wheelbases.
  
• The hatchback categories also like small wheelbases, but many models that have a coupe don't have a hatchback and vice versa. So you need a new model for hatchbacks.
  
• Utility/Delivery demographics like larger wheel bases because of cargo space.
  
• The demographics that like Sedans are somewhere in between.

Some demographics have also extremely high standards that can only be properly fullfilled with options that impose a penalty to production efficiency, which you absolutely want to avoid on your mass producing factories; so you will need a smaller factory for those categories.

In general the demographics different market sizes themselves already suggest making factories that are more tailored to the number of cars you will produce for them.
Because having 2 trims on a model... where one is a mass produced sedan and sells like 10000 cars and the other is a sports coupe that barely sells 500 cars... I don't think that is a good strategy.
Because the more trims on the same model... the more production efficiency decreases because of split attention.
So I usually only make 3-4 trims on each model that share similar characteistics and demographic sizes.

• A model with Sedans for Family/Premium (convertible) & Wagon trim is a good idea.
  
• Same is for sports & sports convertible & GT cars.
  
• Or sharing a model for Utlity & Delivery.

Another thing to consider is engines... you likely won't be able to make efficient engines for all demographics with just one engine block in one factory. If you make a huge one for sports cars, the consumer demographics which like more eco stuff won't be too happy about that unless you heavily underbore the engine variant but that leaves you with lots of dead-weight and high material costs because the engine blocks are still big. And big engines might also not fit into the engine bays for a sedan/hatchback or the likes in the first place.

Lastly one of the most important aspects is actually that you will be severely limited in how & when you make models/engines and facelifts if you only have 1 model with several variants that need to fit everything. If you make a new car then or a new facelift you will have downtime where you will sell less cars and your factory may not be able to produce enough excess to cover its downtime. And then you will tremble if you will survive the engineering & retooling time or if you go bancrupt.
You are more flexible if you have several different models in different factories that have their facelifts not at the same time. So you will have steady income from active model(s), while another can be in retooling downtime for facelift/new model.