Global Platforms On the Rise
May 25, 2010 by William Maley
A study done by consulting firm A.T. Kearney Inc says the number of global platforms will grow from twelve this year to twenty in 2015. Global platforms are used to make vehicles for different markets which may appear to be unique, but use one platform. Platform sharing brings with it lower costs for parts, tooling, and time spent on engineering. The savings of using global platforms could prompt another round of mergers and alliances between auto makers.
Daniel Cheng, an A.T. Kearney partner and head of the company’s automotive practice in North America said,
“We all know some mergers and alliances have been disastrous, so we make this statement with some trepidation. But the cost savings from global platforms are really compelling.”
Cheng estimates that an automaker who builds a million vehicles on a single platform will see savings of $700 per vehicle compared with an automaker who only builds 400,000 vehicles. The savings increase to $1000 per vehicle when two million vehicles are built.  However when three million vehicles are built the savings only get to $1100 per vehicle.
Japanese automakers are currently the masters of global platforms. This year alone the study predicts Toyota Motor Company will build 2.8 million vehicles on the Camry platform. Honda will build 1.2 million on the Civic platform, 1.1 million on the Fit platform, and 1 million on the Accord platform.
However, the study says the automaker to watch is General Motors. Right now GM ranks seventh in utilization of global platforms with a total of 1.7 million vehicles annually. The study claims GM’s global platform use will dramatically change by 2015 with 5.2 million annual sales. The predicted sales levels will put GM in second place behind Toyota as their projectd 2015 global platform sales are 7 million vehicles. GM’s gain will come from 2.1 million vehicles on the Delta platform which underpins the new Chevrolet Cruze. In 2015, 61% of GM sales will be from vehicles on a global platform, a drastic increase compared to the current 28% GM holds right now. GM could save up to $4.3 billion in 2015 due to platform sharing.
Fiat-Chrysler will likely be the biggest loser according to the study. Global platform sales account for 1.6 million vehicles this year and 2.1 million vehicles are projected for 2015. Fiat and Chrysler are beginning to share more platforms, but will not see the savings of building more.
“This goes to the whole scale argument. Going from 200,000 to 400,000 gets some benefits. But it’s when you go above 1 million when you really get those savings,” said Daniel Cheng.
Source: AutoNews
