Vehicular Platform Consolidation

The strategy to use one platform to underpin many models is expected to enable manufacturers to sustain business in the long run.

- Ashish Bhatia

Vehicular platform consolidation is an exercise undertaken by manufacturers the world over to prune their number of platforms. For some, the objective is to reduce manufacturing and platform upgradation complexity while for others it’s a strategy to eliminate any redundancies that there may be in the ecosystem. Those focused on business economics would want to continue with the existing range of products however look at attaining a higher degree of localisation to meet the demographic demands and stay price competitive. Undertaking platform consolidation for meeting the taste of their customers is a given. Heavyweights like Toyota Motor Corporation, Suzuki Motor Corporation, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Ford Motor Company have at some point or the other given it a thought and pursued it with conviction. The strategy to use one platform to underpin many models, after all, is expected to enable manufacturers to sustain business in the long run.