Automakers have long relied on parts-sharing to keep costs down — not just across individual lineups, but across brands and market segments. Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform became the poster child for modern parts-sharing architecture in the 2010s, and since then many other automakers have consolidated their lineups on minimal fundamental platforms to make manufacturing cheaper and more consistent.
But it also has negative aspects. The VW Group has long been accused of offering the same sausage in different lengths, and similarity across brands invites accusations of cost-cutting and even badge-engineering – sometimes justified in both cases, but not always.
Now, imagine this kind of commonality across not just multiple brands, but multiple manufacturing entities under the same corporate umbrella. The Japanese auto industry is reportedly considering this (Sub. Required), automotive news Report.
Of course, we’ve seen cross-brand platform joint ventures before. BMW and Toyota produced the Z4 and Supra as part of a joint program, and Mazda had a similar arrangement with Fiat to produce the modernized 124 Spider (just a new MX-5). What the Japanese auto industry is proposing will be on a very large scale.
Who says? Koji Sato, CEO of Toyota, who is also the current president of JAMA, the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association. The group represents Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Suzuki.
“We are deeply aware that the Japanese auto industry is in a period of massive change,” Sato said. “Now is the time to move forward and evolve with the challenges and reform initiatives that the auto industry as a whole must face.”
Sato, along with Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa, told the outlet that standardization of parts would free up Japanese manufacturers to focus their development resources on developing emerging technologies that customers really want, such as new software interfaces, advanced driver-assistance technology and more quickly charging EVs.
In addition to being president of JAMA and CEO of Toyota, Sato is also Toyota’s “Chief Industry Officer”, putting him in charge of advocating for policy changes that will benefit the automotive sector.
“We’re really talking about what we can do together, because we see other industries in other countries or other parts of the world that are better organized than us,” Espinosa told the outlet. “We will see a lot more cooperation between Japanese OEMs.”
What will that collaboration look like? In the short term, the goal is to standardize parts that customers won’t see, just as automakers do in their current lineups. Think wiring harnesses and fluid hoses rather than sheet metal or frame components. Sato did not suggest that the similarities would extend to platforms or body casting; In fact, such procedures were not brought in at all.
We’ve seen hybridized platforms before, though usually in more formal joint ventures and mergers. For example, Chrysler’s LX platform was engineered to play nice with components from Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz and Sprinter lines, despite being derived from Chrysler’s own LH architecture.
There are potential advantages and disadvantages to this type of arrangement. As we’ve seen with Ford and GM, collaboration doesn’t always mean imitation. Their respective 10-speed automatic transmissions were jointly developed but separately engineered, resulting in very different results for their respective customers.
Let’s face it: equality is not something we want as enthusiasts. This may make cars easier and cheaper to produce, but it does nothing to give them character. Plus, having parts interchangeable between manufacturers is a boon for the DIYer, making it easier to get replacements when things inevitably break. At best, it seems like a wash. At worst, it looks like a win for the accountant.
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