gavriil

Motortrend mag is reporting that GM will not only stop assigning Greek-letter names to its platforms (Sigma, Zeta, etc.) but it will completely discontinue the naming of its platforms.

I think this makes A TON of sense. That's how it should have been. It's a strategic marketing move.

I am sure GM will continue naming platforms internally, maybe using alphanumeric codes or something, but I am interpreting this as, they will not be publicly reporting platform names.

It's better to say, xyz-future-car will be using the Sky/Solstice platform, than to say, xyz-future-car will be a Kappa-based car. The latter...for lack of a better word..."honors" the platform, rather than the model.

Also, a better recent example of how this public-platform-naming hurts GM's image is the Zeta platform cancelation news. If no one used a name for it (zeta), they would not have been able to associate car brands to platforms. E.g. CTS= Sigma. So the Zeta canceleation news would have titled something like "G8, next GTO, etc. will be using a different RWD platform instead of one previously scheduled". That doesn't sound so bad as "Zeta is dead", etc.

If you think about it, can the general-enthusiast-public name any Toyota platforms? Any Lexus platforms? Any BMW platforms? It's not coincidental, I say.

biker

The Germans use platform naming all the time E90 for 3 series, W211 for E class, B6 for the A4. And Infiniti uses the FM platform name in a lot of the literature. But you're right - a model based platform naming is good enough.

gavriil

I am not sure if the above are direct codes for platrforms. I always took them as codes of a vehicle's generation denotation.