General Motors A platform (FWD)

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GM A platform
1987 Chevrolet Celebrity
Overview
Manufacturer	General Motors
Production	1982–1996
Body and chassis
Class	Mid-size
Layout	Front engine, front-wheel drive/all-wheel drive (Pontiac 6000 only)
Body style(s)	2-door coupe 4-door sedan 4-door station wagon
Vehicles	Buick Century Chevrolet Celebrity Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera/Cruiser Pontiac 6000
Powertrain
Engine(s)	Gasoline: 122 I4 Iron Duke I4 60° V6 Buick V6 Diesel: Oldsmobile V6
Transmission(s)	3-speed 3T40 automatic 4-speed 4T60 automatic 4-speed 4T60-E automatic 5-speed Getrag manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	104.5 in (2,654 mm) 104.9 in (2,664 mm)
Chronology
Predecessor	GM A platform (1936)
Successor	GM W platform GM N platform

The General Motors A platform (informally called the A-body) was a mid-size platform designation used from 1982-1996. The same designation had previously been used for rear wheel drive mid-sized cars.

The A platform was shared by the Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Pontiac 6000 and Chevrolet Celebrity. As part of their legacy, they became enormously popular — as well as synonymous with GM's most transparent example of badge engineering: the four were highlighted almost indistinguishably on the August 22, 1983 cover of Fortune magazine as examples of genericized uniformity, embarrassing the company and ultimately prompting GM to recommit to design leadership. ^[1][2][3]

Introduced for the 1982 model year, the A-Bodies were essentially similar in mechanical layout and interior space to the troubled X-car compacts on which they were based. With greater overall length allowed, they were classified as intermediates. Initially all four lines offered two and four door sedans for 1982. In 1984, a wagon was offered, replacing the rear wheel drive G-Body wagons, discontinued in 1983.

Vehicles using the A platform were initially offered alongside other GM rear-drive nameplates, e.g., the Malibu, in the intermediate class — eventually supplanting them in 1989.^[4]