Lotus' Versatile venture: Versatile Vehicle Architecture is Lotus Engineering's attempt to take platform sharing to the next level and allow automakers to make unique vehicles with high commonality and lower investment. If it succeeds, there could be a lot more funky low-volume vehicles in the marketplace

Automotive Design & Production, Feb, 2004 by Kermit Whitfield

The driving force behind VVA is allowing automakers to get more bang
for their bucks when it comes to platform sharing. These graphs show
exactly how much Lotus thinks can be shared between different platforms.

VVA PLATFORM COMMONALITY

            Parts  Tooling Eost

Unique       14%     8%
2 Vehicles   29%    18%
3 Vehicles   23%    23%
4 Vehicles    5%     4%
5 Vehicles   29%    47%

For 2 Basic Platforms--Mid Engine & Front Engine RWD

Note: Table made from pie chart.

By Kermit Whitfield, Senior Associate Editor