GM is set to finally follow the trend of sharing a small number of platforms across several models. GM has officially announced plans to cut the number of platforms it currently has by more than half, from 30 down to 14 over the next seven years.
The ultimate goal is to have 90 percent of its global models built off shared platforms, which is up from 31 percent last year. The number of engine variants will also be reduced from 18 to 10 by 2018. The news was announced at GM’s 2nd Annual Global Business Conference for investors and financial analysts.
“Today’s GM has strong brands and fuel-efficient products that customers around the world truly value,” said Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson. “To reach a higher level of performance – for our customers and stockholders – we are accelerating our efforts to simplify and strengthen our processes to improve efficiencies and achieve our vision, which is to design, build and sell the world’s best vehicles.”
