The
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
A platform (informally called the A-body) was a
mid-size platform designation used from 1982-1996. Previously the
A body designation had been used for
rear wheel drive mid-sized cars. They were initially offered alongside, but eventually supplanted rear-drive nameplates such as the Malibu for the intermediate class.
1982 Chevrolet Celebrity
/ref> Due to the strong popularity of the older rear wheel drive design, General Motors continued their production as the G-Body until 1988.
Introduced for the 1982 model year, the A-Body cars were essentially similar in mechanical layout and interior space to the troubled X-car compacts on which they were based, though longer and classified as intermediates. Initially all four lines offered two and four door sedans for 1982. In 1984, they added a wagon, replacing the rear wheel drive G-Body wagons, which were discontinued in 1983.
The A platform underpinned the Buick Century, Cutlass Ciera
The Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera is a mid-size car that was manufactured and marketed from the 1982 through 1996 model years by the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors. It shared the front-wheel drive A platform with the Buick Century, Pontiac 6 ...
, Pontiac 6000
The Pontiac 6000 is a Mid-size automobile manufactured and marketed by Pontiac for model years 1982-1991 in 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan and 5-door wagon body styles – as one of four rebadged variants, including the Buick Century, Chevrolet Celebri ...
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
In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a manu ...
: the four were highlighted almost indistinguishably on the August 22, 1983 cover of Forbes magazine as examples of genericized uniformity, embarrassing the company and ultimately prompting GM to recommit to design leadership.
Platform updates
The A-body eventually consisted of a 4-door sedan, 2-door coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
and a 4-door station wagon
A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...
.
* 1982: The Chevrolet Celebrity, Pontiac 6000, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and Buick Century two and four door models are introduced.
* 1983: Pontiac introduces the sporty STE variant of their 6000. Oldsmobile introduces the ES performance package for their Cutlass Ciera four door models.
* 1984: All four divisions now offered the new wagon body style. Oldsmobile introduces the Holiday Coupe package on their Cutlass Ciera Brougham coupes.
* 1985: Oldsmobile introduces an updated Cutlass Ciera with more aerodynamic front and rear styling, an updated interior and a new GT coupe model. The Oldsmobile 4.3 liter diesel engine was dropped after this model year.
* 1986: Mid year, the Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera gets a unique roofline. The Buick Century is restyled.
* 1988: Pontiac offers all wheel drive on exclusively on their 6000 STE. All models moved to composite headlamps. Oldsmobile dropped the Brougham nameplate from their Ciera line.
* 1989: the Celebrity drops its two-door models. The Cutlass Ciera, Century and 6000 receive major updates.
* 1990: the Celebrity drops its four-door models, leaving only the station wagon.
* 1991: The Pontiac 6000 (all models), Chevrolet Celebrity wagon and Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera coupe are dropped.
* 1992: Buick dropped the Century coupe.
* 1996: For the final year of the A-Body, Oldsmobile drops the Cutlass name, simply calling their sedan the Oldsmobile Ciera.
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.
Vehicles underpinned
* 1982–1990 Chevrolet Celebrity
* 1982–1991 Pontiac 6000
The Pontiac 6000 is a Mid-size automobile manufactured and marketed by Pontiac for model years 1982-1991 in 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan and 5-door wagon body styles – as one of four rebadged variants, including the Buick Century, Chevrolet Celebri ...
* 1982–1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
* 1996 Oldsmobile Ciera
The Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera is a mid-size car that was manufactured and marketed from the 1982 through 1996 model years by the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors. It shared the front-wheel drive A platform with the Buick Century, Pontiac ...
(final year of the Cutlass Ciera and Cutlass Cruiser, sold without the "Cutlass" name)
* 1982–1996 Buick Century
External links
A-body.net - 82-96 GM A-body Website & Forum
{{General Motors platforms
Notes
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