Re:The Car, Reinvented
by tomatotomato37 on Sunday July 05, 2020 @12:03PM
(#23739657)
I was about to say, I have no idea what the difference between this idea and some ladder chassis platform was supposed to be. The Ford Panther platform was used on like 8 different models across 3 marques, including a police car.
The thing is companies don't really like using modular chassis like ladders anymore is because anything that can't use the roof for structural support is heavy and flexes like mad.
That's on the mark! It's also pretty clear that manufacturers did want to utilize this as it reduces tooling costs a lot. But, in attempts to increase fuel efficiency/reduce weight(cost) they lost rigidity and went to unibody.
Composite & battery technology are enabling these types of designs again.
As for the lead comment, it's true that the exact same 'skateboard' isn't going to perform, but keep the board and swap 'trucks & wheels'. There's your sports car cum minivan.
It's about the chassis not the rolling
Then we got vertically integrated mass production which cost less and built cars which handled a lot better as they'd been designed as a unit with bodywork and chassis having complementary characteristics. "I wish my sports car also had the ability to handle like a family car or a commercial vehicle if you slapped the right bodywork on," said no modern driver ever.
Calling it a skateboard (bah! so twentieth century) doesn't change the fact it's the nineteenth century approach to doing things....