From my understanding, unibody cars are 1 piece body & frame. I don’t understand how some cars with a very different design are built on the same platform (EG Honda Civic and Crv). These are clearly not just the same unibody with just different body panels.
In: Engineering
“Platform” does not mean the unibody. It basically means everything *but* the unibody.
The platform is the architecture of the car, in the engineering sense, not the aesthetic sense. Common platforms use the same arrangement of components, the same components when possible, and the same interfaces. Lego is a platform…individual Lego models are the individual cars. Platform design allows you to make a huge variety of end items using a much smaller set of parts and reuse a lot of engineering and design.
The “platform” is essentially the floorplan and all the mechanical components of the car (the engine, suspension etc)–what would have been the chassis in old-style cars. Such a structure isn’t rigid enough by itself to be a workable car, but once you build a body on top then it becomes one.
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