Best Selling "Platforms" in History

Posted by jonrpatrick@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 37 comments

Greetings!

There was an earlier post about whether new platforms mattered, and that got me thinking. While reading the wiki article on GM's J platform, there's a mention that "Consequently, it is the fifth best selling automobile platform in automotive history."

Running an auto channel on YT, that caught my eye, but I can't seem to find any information that ranks "platforms" by overall sales?

Yes, there's going to be disagreement on what constitutes a "platform", but still, there should be some agreement on shared platforms and their overall sales success?

I'd assume the VW Group's rank high, and perhaps Chrysler's K platform and it's derivatives would be high.

Any thoughts/resources on this?

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Geotolkien@reddit

The Volkswagen Beetle has got to be up there right? I mean it was basically the same platform worldwide from the 30s through the 80s.

In North America, whatever the GMT platform that underpinned Chevy and GMC trucks as well as the GM body on frame SUVs has got to be up there.

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Resident_wrench@reddit

Golf actually sold more than the beetle worldwide

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patlaska@reddit

through the 80s

July 30th, 2003 was the last produced aircooled Beetle

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aquatone61@reddit

And they only stopped because the taxi regulations were changing to require 4 doors.

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juwyro@reddit

The Ford Panther platform has to be up there. It was used for 33 years and how many Crown Vics were sold?

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Killarkittens@reddit

Police vehicles and taxis in almost every city in the US its gotta be WAY up there. 1979-2012 is a looong 33 years LOL

GMs truck/suv/van platform has also gotta be way up there too. You can still buy a GMC savanna new and it looks exactly like one from the mid 2000's. The squarebody platform was pretty popular too.

Ill bet VW's beetle platform takes the cake though. The beetle, bus, and stationwagon were all on the same platform and they only just stopped manufacturing the old models in Brazil recently.

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Barbarian_818@reddit

Now, do the various kits that used an existing Type 1 floorpan count as platform vehicles? And let's not forgot that, in addition to making beetles up to just a few years, Brazil also came up with a bunch of other cars based on that floor pan.

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arsinoe716@reddit

No where as much as the J cars.

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Poohs_Smart_Brother@reddit

well obviously trucks/vans take the cake. If we don't count them however, I think the GM W body is probably up there in the top 10

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Tumbleweedwhacker@reddit

The best selling single model is the Toyota Corolla so it's pretty safe to say with a span from 1966 to 2026 which means 60 years, it's platform and the 54 million units sold also makes it the best selling automobile platform.

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0peRightBehindYa@reddit

Whatever the Ford F-150 sits on.

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Training-Expert5598@reddit

GM printed money on the Delta platform with their fleet sales. Off the top of my head, there was the Cobalt, Cruze, Ion, G5, HHR, Volt, Equinox, and Terrain. It wasn't flashy or cool, but it made GM boatloads of money in a period they otherwise were making little.

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mr_bots@reddit

TNGA-C. Relatively long lived and sells over a million a year between the Corolla, Prius, CH-R, and Corolla Cross

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Yankee831@reddit

I would think the Ford and GM truck/SUV platforms would be up there. The Focus platform has been a ton of different vehicles. Some of those went decades between significant changes. All depends at what line do you consider it a shared platform. Like what percentage. Tons of vehicles run on long platform lineages.

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velociraptorfarmer@reddit

I don't think it takes the best selling crown, but Nissan's FM platform at least needs an honorable mention:

350Z
370Z
Z
G35
G37
Q40
Q50
Q60
FX35/45
FX37/50
QX70
EX35/37
QX50
M35/45
M37/56
Q70

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themickeymauser@reddit

Toyota has been using the same platform for all its trucks and SUVs since the early 90s. Land Cruiser, Tacoma, Hilux, tundra, 4Runner, Prado, Lexus LX and GX, are all just slight variations of the same chassis.

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SirLoremIpsum@reddit

Toyota has been using the same platform for all its trucks and SUVs since the early 90s. Land Cruiser, Tacoma, Hilux, tundra, 4Runner, Prado, Lexus LX and GX, are all just slight variations of the same chassis.

Not even close...

The 3rd Gen 4Runner shared lots w the Hilux then it moved to the 120 platform.

The Hilux with rear leaf springs is very different to a 200 series LandCruiser.

You can't just go "it's got 4 wheels and goes off road so they're the same". They are incredible different platforms designed for different stuff. An LX and a 100/200/300 are the same but they're super. Mega different to a Hilux

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peakdecline@reddit

Not quite. Hilux, Hilux Champ, Land Cruiser FJ are all on the IMV platform. Which is rather specifically not the TNGA-F platform. And Land Cruiser 70 series is its own unique thing.

And while there was some parts sharing in the past with the American specific models with the others... they were definitely different platforms. The Tacoma and Tundra, until the current generation, didn't have boxed frames like the LCs (Wagons and Prado) or 4Runner.

Now, all of them (except the Hilux family and LC FJ) are on TNGA-F, but that's relatively a new change.

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IditarodDays@reddit

TNGA platform (all variants combined)

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rayrayrayray@reddit

I'm not sure about numbers but it seemed like in the mid80s to late 90s, Dodge Caravan & Plymouth Voyager were everywhere

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evidentlyeric@reddit

D40

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_galaga_@reddit

MQB, TNGA, CLAR… don’t ask why I’m familiar with any platform architecture acronym. It’s not as if I would say a prayer to the CLAR god every time I sat in my fancy new M3 CS manual. Well… on second thought…

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peakdecline@reddit

TNGA is relatively new, moreover there are multiplatforms under that umbrella.

TNGA-B
TNGA-C
TNGA-F
TNGA-K
TNGA-L
e-TNGA

These are all separate platforms. Sure they share a common "language" in some respects but a Corolla (TNGA-C) and a Tundra (TNGA-F) don't share a platform.

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AsparagusDifficult89@reddit

Correct.

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jakeuten@reddit

Didn’t TNGA launch with the 2016MY Prius in 2015? That’s hardly new anymore.

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_galaga_@reddit

They all make me think of chicken tinga but I appreciate you clarifying reality. I wasn’t trying to gloss over them all as the same. More a comment of how we know this stuff because auto journalists mention it in their articles but from a user experience it’s less important.

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