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Downsize (automobile)
Encyclopedia
Downsizing in the automobile industry is the practice of redesigning a vehicle to retain the interior volume, and often the nameplate
and styling of a larger car
to a smaller, more efficient
platform. General Motors
was among the first to announce a downsize strategy for the whole company as a response to demand for smaller more efficient cars. An alternative strategy was to simply rebadge or mildly restyle smaller vehicles, as nameplates such as the Ford LTD and Plymouth Fury
were applied to smaller platforms.
for Buick
, Cadillac
, Chevrolet
, Oldsmobile
, and Pontiac
. Most models were left a foot shorter and averaging 750 pound lighter. This created a marketing problem, since the full-size cars had substantially less shoulder room than their predecessors, and were narrower and barely longer than GM's mid-size cars. This problem was solved by having sales advertisements mention any increases in headroom, legroom and trunk space while avoiding all mention of shoulder room. For the 1978 model year, the intermediate GM A platform
was redesigned and downsized to near-compact
dimensions. After the second gas crisis
in 1979, the cars of the GM X platform
were redesigned and replaced by front-wheel drive
counterparts. By the end of the 1980s, nearly all cars produced by GM would be front-wheel drive. At the end of the 1996 model year, the B-platform was discontinued; the cars were shifted onto front-wheel drive platforms.
Size comparison between 76 and 77 Caprice
's full-size car sales did not rebound from the initial 1973 gas crisis
. The 1974 models were the last full-size models Chrysler designed from the ground up, as the short lived 1979-81 R-bodies
were stretched versions of the old mid-sized B-bodies. Instead Chrysler focused on updating its midsize and personal luxury car lines. By 1982, Chrysler's "full-size" cars were not even considered full size by EPA standards, and were built on the midsize M-platform which was almost identical to F-body, which had been considered a compact car as recently as 1976. For mid-size cars, Chrysler offered the K-car
, a 6-passenger sedan that combined mid-sized interior room with compact exterior dimensions; its front-wheel drive layout was adopted in virtually all Chryslers into the 21st century. Chrysler also introduced the minivan
as a family vehicle as a replacement for station wagon
s based on full-sized sedans; by 1992, Chrysler no longer made station wagons of any size.
models of Panther platform
were over 15 inches (381 mm) shorter and 800 pounds (362.9 kg) lighter; the Ford LTD was left lighter and shorter than the "intermediate" LTD II. However, Ford retained the same amount of interior room from the 1978 model. In 1980, the Lincoln Continental
became the last full-size nameplate to undergo downsizing; formerly the largest mass-produced car in North America, it too became produced on the Panther platform.
In 1983, Ford used a strategy of badge engineering to undergo further downsizing while avoiding the cost of developing new vehicle platforms. In an effort to move its full-size cars upmarket, the Panther-platform cars retained their top-of the line models (LTD Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, and the Town Car
) while the lower-trim models were moved onto the mid-size Fox platform. The Continental became a successor to the 1977-1980 Versailles
, while the LTD replaced the Granada
. As the Mercury Cougar
shifted back to its traditional role of a personal-luxury car, the Marquis replaced the unpopular Cougar sedan and station wagon models.
During the mid-1980s, as front-wheel drive was adopted in mid-size cars, Ford replaced most Fox platform
variants with those from the D186 platform
; this was introduced by the 1986 Ford Taurus
and Mercury Sable
. With this introduction, Ford's era of downsizing had stopped. The Taurus was essentially the same size as the LTD it replaced; the only significant downsizing that happened was the discontinuation of the V8 engine seen (as an option) in the LTD/Marquis. Today, the Taurus now serves as Ford's Crown Victoria replacement, although it has gained well over 1000 pounds (453.6 kg) in 25 years of production. Conversely, the Town Car and Grand Marquis remained in production without direct replacements.
Nameplate
A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Name plates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone’s name...
and styling of a larger car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
to a smaller, more efficient
Efficiency
Efficiency in general describes the extent to which time or effort is well used for the intended task or purpose. It is often used with the specific purpose of relaying the capability of a specific application of effort to produce a specific outcome effectively with a minimum amount or quantity of...
platform. General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
was among the first to announce a downsize strategy for the whole company as a response to demand for smaller more efficient cars. An alternative strategy was to simply rebadge or mildly restyle smaller vehicles, as nameplates such as the Ford LTD and Plymouth Fury
Plymouth Fury
The Plymouth Fury is an automobile which was produced by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1956 to 1978. The Fury was introduced as a premium-priced model designed to showcase the line, with the intent to draw consumers into showrooms....
were applied to smaller platforms.
General Motors
The first cars to be downsized were the 1977 full-size carsGM B platform
The B platform, or B-body, was General Motors' full-size rear-wheel drive automobile platform. It was closely related to the C-body and D-body and was used for coupés, sedans, and station wagons....
for Buick
Buick
Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
, Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
, Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
, Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
, and Pontiac
Pontiac
Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...
. Most models were left a foot shorter and averaging 750 pound lighter. This created a marketing problem, since the full-size cars had substantially less shoulder room than their predecessors, and were narrower and barely longer than GM's mid-size cars. This problem was solved by having sales advertisements mention any increases in headroom, legroom and trunk space while avoiding all mention of shoulder room. For the 1978 model year, the intermediate GM A platform
GM A platform
The General Motors A platform was a mid-size car automobile platform. The A-bodies evolved from rear wheel drive compacts, to rear wheel drive mid-size cars, to front wheel drive mid-size cars over the course of 32 years. The switch in drive layout in 1982 spawned the G-body...
was redesigned and downsized to near-compact
Compact car
A compact car , or small family car , is a classification of cars which are larger than a supermini but smaller than or equal to a mid-size car...
dimensions. After the second gas crisis
1979 energy crisis
The 1979 oil crisis in the United States occurred in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Amid massive protests, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled his country in early 1979 and the Ayatollah Khomeini soon became the new leader of Iran. Protests severely disrupted the Iranian oil...
in 1979, the cars of the GM X platform
GM X platform
There have been two X-body automobile platforms from General Motors. All X-bodies were small entry-level models.-Rear wheel drive:The rear-wheel drive X-body underpinned the Chevrolet Nova and similar cars of the late 1960s and 1970s. It was also the basis for the Cadillac Seville's K platform...
were redesigned and replaced by front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...
counterparts. By the end of the 1980s, nearly all cars produced by GM would be front-wheel drive. At the end of the 1996 model year, the B-platform was discontinued; the cars were shifted onto front-wheel drive platforms.
Size comparison between 76 and 77 Caprice
| 1976 Caprice | 1977 Caprice | |
|---|---|---|
| Wheelbase | 121.5 in (3,086 mm) | 116 in (2,946 mm) |
| Overall Length | 222.9 in (5,662 mm) | 212.1 in (5,387 mm) |
| Width | 79.5 in (2,019 mm) | 75.5 in (1,918 mm) |
| Height | 53.7 in (1,364 mm) | 55.3 in (1,405 mm) |
| Front Headroom | 38.9 in (988 mm) | 39 in (991 mm) |
| Front Legroom | 42.5 in (1,080 mm) | 42.2 in (1,072 mm) |
| Front Hip Room | 59.3 in (1,506 mm) | 55 in (1,397 mm) |
| Front Shoulder Room | 63.8 in (1,621 mm) | 61.1 in (1,552 mm) |
| Rear Headroom | 38 in (965 mm) | 38.2 in (970 mm) |
| Rear Legroom–ins. | 38.8 in (986 mm) | 39.5 in (1,003 mm) |
| Rear Hip Room | 59.7 in (1,516 mm) | 55.7 in (1,415 mm) |
| Rear Shoulder Room | 63.8 in (1,621 mm) | 61.1 in (1,552 mm) |
| Luggage Capacity | 18.9 cu ft (535 l) | 20.9 cu ft (592 l) |
 |
 |
Chrysler
Unlike Ford or General Motors, ChryslerChrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
's full-size car sales did not rebound from the initial 1973 gas crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
. The 1974 models were the last full-size models Chrysler designed from the ground up, as the short lived 1979-81 R-bodies
Chrysler R platform
The Chrysler R platform, introduced for 1979, was essentially a slightly modernized version of Chrysler's 1971-78 intermediate B platform, which had its roots in the company's downsized 1962 full-size models . It was a response to the downsized 1977 Chevrolet Caprice and Ford LTD, but proved...
were stretched versions of the old mid-sized B-bodies. Instead Chrysler focused on updating its midsize and personal luxury car lines. By 1982, Chrysler's "full-size" cars were not even considered full size by EPA standards, and were built on the midsize M-platform which was almost identical to F-body, which had been considered a compact car as recently as 1976. For mid-size cars, Chrysler offered the K-car
Chrysler K platform
The Chrysler Corporation's K-cars were compact-to-midsize cars designed to carry six adults on two bench seats and were aimed not only to replace Chrysler's nominally-compact F-body Aspen and Volaré, but also to compete with intermediates like the Chevrolet Malibu and Ford Fairmont...
, a 6-passenger sedan that combined mid-sized interior room with compact exterior dimensions; its front-wheel drive layout was adopted in virtually all Chryslers into the 21st century. Chrysler also introduced the minivan
Minivan
Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....
as a family vehicle as a replacement for station wagon
Station wagon
A station wagon is a 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 , instead of a trunk lid...
s based on full-sized sedans; by 1992, Chrysler no longer made station wagons of any size.
Ford
Alongside Chrysler, Ford introduced its own downsized full-size car platform in 1979. Like GM's downsizing, the Ford and MercuryMercury (automobile)
Mercury was an automobile marque of the Ford Motor Company launched in 1938 by Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, to market entry-level luxury cars slotted between Ford-branded regular models and Lincoln-branded luxury vehicles, similar to General Motors' Buick brand, and Chrysler's namesake brand...
models of Panther platform
Ford Panther platform
The Ford Panther platform is an automobile platform that was used by Ford Motor Company for full-size, rear-wheel drive sedans. Introduced in late 1978 for the 1979 model year, it was progressively updated over 33 years of production. In September 2011, the last car produced on the platform was...
were over 15 inches (381 mm) shorter and 800 pounds (362.9 kg) lighter; the Ford LTD was left lighter and shorter than the "intermediate" LTD II. However, Ford retained the same amount of interior room from the 1978 model. In 1980, the Lincoln Continental
Lincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...
became the last full-size nameplate to undergo downsizing; formerly the largest mass-produced car in North America, it too became produced on the Panther platform.
In 1983, Ford used a strategy of badge engineering to undergo further downsizing while avoiding the cost of developing new vehicle platforms. In an effort to move its full-size cars upmarket, the Panther-platform cars retained their top-of the line models (LTD Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, and the Town Car
Town car
A town car is a historical automobile body style in which the front seats were open and the rear compartment closed, normally with a removable top to cover the front chauffeur's compartment...
) while the lower-trim models were moved onto the mid-size Fox platform. The Continental became a successor to the 1977-1980 Versailles
Lincoln Versailles
This is about the Lincoln vehicle produced using the Versailles nameplate. For the Ford vehicles sold under the same nameplate, see Ford Versailles...
, while the LTD replaced the Granada
Ford Granada
Ford Motor Company used the Ford Granada for unrelated vehicles sold in different markets:* The European Ford Granada was built and marketed in Europe from 1972 to 1994.* The American Ford Granada was built and marketed in North America from 1975 to 1982...
. As the Mercury Cougar
Mercury Cougar
The Mercury Cougar is an automobile which was sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company's Lincoln-Mercury Division from 1967 to 2002. The name was first used in 1967 and was carried by a diverse series of cars over the next three decades. As is common with Mercury vehicles, the Cougar...
shifted back to its traditional role of a personal-luxury car, the Marquis replaced the unpopular Cougar sedan and station wagon models.
During the mid-1980s, as front-wheel drive was adopted in mid-size cars, Ford replaced most Fox platform
Ford Fox platform
The Ford Fox platform is a rear wheel drive, unitized-chassis, automobile architecture used by Ford Motor Company in North America. Introduced for the 1978 model year, it would go on to be produced until 1993 in its original version; a substantial redesign of the Ford Mustang in 1994 extended its...
variants with those from the D186 platform
Ford D186 platform
The Ford D186 platform is a mid-size car platform, and was used for three cars and a minivan. The D186 was first used with the 1986 introduction of the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable. D186 was also significant because it introduced front-wheel drive to Lincoln as well to Ford minivans...
; this was introduced by the 1986 Ford Taurus
Ford Taurus
The Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Originally introduced in the 1986 model year, it has remained in near-continuous production for more than two decades, making it the fourth oldest nameplate that is currently sold in the North American...
and Mercury Sable
Mercury Sable
The Sable was a very important sedan for both Mercury and the American auto industry.Ford had lagged in introducing mid-size front wheel drive cars to compete against General Motors' Chevrolet Citation and its best-selling Chevrolet Celebrity/Pontiac 6000/Oldsmobile Cutlass/Buick Century quartet as...
. With this introduction, Ford's era of downsizing had stopped. The Taurus was essentially the same size as the LTD it replaced; the only significant downsizing that happened was the discontinuation of the V8 engine seen (as an option) in the LTD/Marquis. Today, the Taurus now serves as Ford's Crown Victoria replacement, although it has gained well over 1000 pounds (453.6 kg) in 25 years of production. Conversely, the Town Car and Grand Marquis remained in production without direct replacements.