Shared designs, is this a good thing

[obi_waynne]

What are your thoughts on shared designs, we know Rover and Honda have had a joint development on the Integra and 200 and 800 and Civic. We are also seeing cars like the 107, Aygo and C1 sharing many similar parts and designs.

What other parings can you think of when it comes to car makers joining forces?

This does keep the cost down but does it stifle innovation or has it been a boost to innovation?

 

[pgarner]

in some ways its a good thing. when i was looking for spares for my civic there were none in the local scrapys however there were alot of rover 400 which shared the same parts.
same with the bora about 60% of my bodywork is the same as the golf, leon, a3 etc and the interior is around 90% the same as the golf.
does however mean that you have a lot of cars that look more or less the exact same - hense maybe lights and bumpers

 

[ben]

ive noticed a lot of the new cars looking the same...

the new yaris, and clio for example

gotta admit i havent paid much attention to them though

 

[HDi fun]

Saab's have been based on GM (Vauxhall) floorpans for years. Shame really that a 9-5 Aero is a rebodied Vectra. OK, that's not quite all of it but the floorpan's identical

Volvo S40 and V40 both based on the Mitsubishi Carisma;

Jaguar X-Type is a Mondeo;

Skoda Octavia is a Golf

Seat Ibiza is a Polo

Mazda 121 was a Ford Fiesta

None of this is necessarily bad. Under the bonnet things get even more similar. The only exceptions are some of the Japanese cars which use domestic components.

Yet my Primera (which was a Sunderland built one) had Bosch everything. Not even a Nippon Denso spark plug in sight!

 

[obi_waynne]

I think also Daewoo brought some old Vauxhall designs did they not?

 

[fastivaca]

It's been quite some time since I was here.... sorry for resurrecting an old thread.

The Mazda 121 was a Kia Pride was a Ford Festiva. I have Kia Pride taillights and Mazda 121 grille on my Ford Festiva! You can check out photos here

Ian

 

[turbonutter69]

Been going on for years. It's nothing new really.