See main article: GM A platform.
| GM A platform | |
| Caption: | 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity |
| Manufacturer: | General Motors |
| Production: | 1982–1996 |
| Class: | Mid-size |
| Predecessor: | GM A platform (1936) |
| Successor: | GM W platform GM N platform |
| Body Style: | 2-door coupe 4-door sedan 4-door station wagon |
| Engine: | Gasoline: 122 I4 Iron Duke I4 60° V6 Buick V6 Diesel: Oldsmobile V6 |
| Transmission: | 3-speed 3T40 automatic 4-speed 4T60 automatic 4-speed 4T60-E automatic 5-speed Getrag manual |
| Layout: | Front engine, front-wheel drive/all-wheel drive (Pontiac 6000 only) |
| Wheelbase: | 104.50NaN0 104.90NaN0 |
| Vehicles: | Buick Century Chevrolet Celebrity Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera/Cruiser Pontiac 6000 |
The General Motors A platform (informally called the A-body) was a mid-size platform designation used from 1982-1996. The same designation had previously been used for rear wheel drive mid-sized cars.
The A platform was shared by the Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Pontiac 6000 and Chevrolet Celebrity. As part of their legacy, they became enormously popular - as well as synonymous with GM's most transparent example of badge engineering: the four were highlighted almost indistinguishably on the August 22, 1983 cover of Fortune magazine as examples of genericized uniformity, embarrassing the company and ultimately prompting GM to recommit to design leadership.[1] [2] [3]
Introduced for the 1982 model year, the A-Bodies were essentially similar in mechanical layout and interior space to the troubled X-car compacts on which they were based. With greater overall length allowed, they were classified as intermediates. Initially all four lines offered two and four door sedans for 1982. In 1984, a wagon was offered, replacing the rear wheel drive G-Body wagons, discontinued in 1983.
Vehicles using the A platform were initially offered alongside other GM rear-drive nameplates, e.g., the Malibu, in the intermediate class - eventually supplanting them in 1989.[4]
The A-body eventually consisted of a 4-door sedan, 2-door coupé and a 4-door station wagon.
It was updated in 1989 with a slightly longer wheelbase and a more rounded roofline (except for the Celebrity whose roofline remained unchanged as it was to be phased out in 1990). It also briefly saw duty as an all wheel drive platform for the Pontiac 6000.
Later GM platforms (specifically transaxle based, i.e. four-wheel drive and mid-engine rear-wheel drive) benefited from components and systems developed with the A-Body. Additionally the first generation U-body minivan (1990–1996) was constructed utilizing a lightly modified version of the A-body chassis.
The A-body began to be phased out in favor of the GM W platform beginning in 1990, although production did not end for the platform until 1996 due to popularity of the remaining models.