Nothing governs the size and shape of a car, its character and even its soul, more directly than the platform on which it rides. Spaceframe or ladder, skateboard or monocoque, it's the platform that governs how well a car's suspension and powertrain will work and even how its wheels will turn.
Which is why car makers spend hundreds of millions on new platforms, especially in this burgeoning electrification era, when so many inner components of cars are new. According to mass-production convention, platforms have to be made in tens of thousands to defray the cost of the stamping plants and the production lines that go with them. It's why one structure is often used across many models and even marques.
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