Finally: the Platform Explained

Nowadays we hear so much about "platforms" that the term has become common among consumers. Yet few people have any idea what it really means, because the platform is hidden and only reveals itself during an automobile's development phase. At the 2004 Detroit Auto Show media days General Motors shocked the world's automobile journalists by driving a Pontiac Solstice platform onto the stage and then followed with concepts on the same platform by Saturn and England's Vauxhall. If you ever wondered how platforms evolve, here's your chance to find out.