After five years of market experience, how should we evaluate Geely's CMA architecture now?

By 2020, the terms "platform" and "architecture" will be indispensable when it comes to R&D and production of automobiles. In the past ten years, most automobile manufacturers with a certain scale have launched so-called platforms or architectures, such as the famous Volkswagen MQB, the not-so-popular PSA group EMP, and Toyota TNGA.

After Geely's acquisition of Volvo, the biggest move can be said to be the joint development of CMA architecture, the full name is compact? Modularization? The building was developed at CEVT in Gothenburg, Sweden, which was established by Geely Holding Group on 20 13.

Now we can see more and more models developed based on CMA architecture, including Geely brand models, Volvo brand models and every Lectra brand model launched so far. In this case, it is time for us to summarize the characteristics of CMA architecture in many products. Of course, these characteristics have their own advantages and disadvantages.

diversification

Many models have been born under the framework of CMA, among which only the 0 1, 02, 03, 05 of the Lectra brand and the newly released 06 have covered many different types of models such as SUV, crossover, car and coupe SUV.

In fact, for any modular architecture or platform, compatibility with different models is only a basic project, such as Volkswagen, from polo to Touran, all products of MQB platform. Toyota's TNGA architecture also basically covers all new Toyota and Lexus. Therefore, for Geely-Lectra-Volvo's CMA architecture, it is not a miracle to develop a variety of models based on it, just doing your job well.

So what does diversity mean here?

Actually, it refers to the diversity of personality. Some time ago, whenever we talked about the Volkswagen MQB platform, we would think that most cars on the MQB platform are the same model, and there is not much difference between the models. Even cars with different positioning levels have similar driving quality. The legendary MQB platform without (m), (q) and (b) was formed in this way. Some people think that hundreds of thousands of MQBs are more worth buying than 200,000 or even 300,000 MQBs.

However, in CMA architecture, different models still have different personalities.

For example, 03+ and 05 are equipped with the same powertrain, and the driving experience is completely different. I know you will say that 03+ is a performance car with special positioning, and the driving experience is definitely different, but this personality difference can also be reflected in other models of Lectra. For example, 0 1 and 05,01,both of which are SUV foundations, are similar in size and relatively comfortable, while the chassis of 05 is more sporty in terms of lateral support.

In addition to the diversity of personality, CMA architecture also has diversity in powertrain types.

In terms of traditional fuel power, CMA architecture provides a variety of combinations of engine and gearbox. The engines are 1.5T and 2.0T, and the matching of the gearbox will be selected according to different models or even different driving forms. At present, there are three kinds of gearboxes in CMA architecture: 6AT, 7DCT and 8AT.

If it is the platform architecture of other vendors, it usually does not provide so many choices. Needless to say, the driving form must be compatible with the four-wheel drive system.

In fact, in order to realize the diversity of products, the CMA architecture divided the vehicle components into 25 super modules when it was developed. In addition to the familiar engine, gearbox and other components, there are also body structure related components and electrification related components. This is equivalent to playing permutation and combination. If there are enough modules, more schemes can be pieced together, which can bring different effects to the types and personalities of vehicles.

More importantly, CMA architecture is also compatible with R&D and mass production of pure electric vehicles, which is one of the advantages of CMA architecture compared with other R&D and mass production architecture platforms.

Having said that, we have to mention Volvo's high-end electric car brand-Polestar, the polar star.

In Polestar's product series, there is a very important product that will be officially put on the market this year, that is, Polestar? 2. Is this a Tesla model for positioning? 3 pure electric vehicles, the pre-sale price announced before is less than 300,000.

This pure electric vehicle is based on CMA architecture and is the first pure electric vehicle under CMA architecture. But Polestar? The prenatal preparation period is a little longer, and many people can't wait, so start delivery quickly.

consistent

Speaking of diversity, let's talk about unity. You may feel contradictory. Since there are so many kinds, how can we unify them?

Do you still remember that the CMA architecture just mentioned divides vehicle parts into 25 super modules? These different modules are combined through a unified interface. CMA architecture also has a standardized manufacturing process list, which can effectively control different models to adopt the same manufacturing process and standards in different production lines, thus ensuring the consistency of vehicle quality.

This can also be found in practical experience. Although the models born on CMA architecture have different personalities, they are relatively consistent in some aspects of experience.

Like sitting posture.

Although SUV and car have different natural driving heights, due to the existence of modularity, the bending angles of the upper and lower limbs of the car body and the relative positions with the steering wheel and pedals can be unified, so that drivers can find a familiar feeling when driving different models with CMA architecture.

The adjustable range of the seat has a standard range of 262.2mm in front and back and 65mm in height. Even in NVH of seat adjustment, CMA architecture has its own higher requirements. Their standard is that the maximum sound of seat operation is only 38dB, which is far lower than the mainstream 45dB.

There is also the NVH performance of driving. Although different models will have different orientation adjustments according to positioning, CMA-based models have a very good foundation in vibration filtering and mute performance. Even a car with 20-inch rims like LECK 05 is not conducive to the treatment of road rolling, but it still has a very stable performance on the "Belgian Road".

One of the benefits of unification is to improve the universality of parts, which is of great help to reduce the cost of research and development and production.

In fact, the theory that modular platforms or architectures can reduce costs began to appear from MQB platform of Volkswagen, but on some platforms or architectures of brands such as MQB, as consumers, it seems that they can't see what benefits manufacturers bring to consumers by reducing costs. First, the quality of the car may not improve, and second, the price may not be cheaper than before.

However, on the models with CMA architecture developed by LECK brand and even Geely brand, we have seen the benefits that manufacturers bring to consumers by reducing costs, that is, taking into account the sense of quality and beautiful price.

It's just that Rut Jun thinks this is also the reason of market structure, especially as a new brand like Kelin, we can see that their products do have advantages in quality and deserve higher prices. However, once the price is high, consumers are reluctant to buy this kind of car. After all, reality is cruel.

Look forward

As a rising star in the field of automobile R&D and production infrastructure, CMA can show better foresight in some details.

Today's cars, even if they are not pure electric vehicles with new energy sources, the electrical system has become more and more complicated, because today's cars are emphasizing intelligence. An important step to realize automobile intelligence is to move towards the goal of unmanned driving or automatic driving. What is the biggest obstacle in front of driverless or autonomous driving?

The answer is the speed of operation.

In order to achieve higher operating speed, the requirements for vehicle electronic system are also higher.

CMA architecture also noticed this at the beginning of development, so it designed electrical system redundancy that can easily cope with the future 10- 15. At present, the field of intelligent driving is developing very fast, so in the development stage five years ago, it prepared for the intelligent development in the future 15-20 years, which fully reflected the forward-looking nature of CMA architecture.

The forward-looking of CMA architecture is also reflected in the compatibility of power system. As we just said, CMA architecture not only has gasoline vehicles, but also 2.0T engines can easily meet the stringent national 6 emission standards at this stage, and also have the ability to deal with abnormal Euro 7 emission standards.

In addition, CMA architecture will also have plug-in, hybrid and pure electric vehicles.

You may ask, both pure electric vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles adopt platform architecture, so will this basic pure electric vehicle be a masterpiece of "oil to electricity"? This problem does exist, just as everyone suspects that BMW will not develop the platform architecture of pure electric vehicles alone.

Che Tejun believes that it depends on whether the platform architecture has considered the R&D and production of pure electric vehicles at the beginning of development. When we talk about "changing from oil to electricity", we mean those platforms that originally had only oil cars, but then suddenly added pure electric vehicles. For example, the CMA architecture has included pure electricity in the development goal at the beginning of development, which does not belong to "oil to electricity".

Playability

For some people who love cars, playability is often taken into account when choosing models, and playability may be part of the lack or limitation of CMA architecture at present.

The so-called playability mainly refers to the "tossing space" left by the vehicle to the owner.

For example, the Volkswagen MQB platform may be one of the currently playable architecture platforms. One of the main reasons is that many models have been born on the MQB platform, and their number in the market is also very large, so many automotive aftermarket brands will launch modified and upgraded products for MQB platform models. These modifications and upgrades usually include power supply, chassis and other kit parts, and can even be divided into several levels, which is what we often call "first order".

CMA architecture is not so mature in this respect. The main reason is that CMA architecture is still in the process of development and growth, and its ownership is not large enough. Moreover, the previous CMA architecture models did not focus on attracting consumers who love to play with cars.

A phenomenon of its products can illustrate this point: as the first China performance car, the Lectra 03+ does have a good foundation, but Rut Jun learned from some channels that the entry-level upgrade scheme commonly used by car players is simply not feasible-brushing ECU.

Perhaps the technical safety protection level from Volvo is very high, so it is impossible to crack the ECU engine control computer, and the power curve can only be changed through an external computer, and this form of upgrade is very limited for 03+. This hardly leaves the so-called "tossing space" for car users.

At the same time, due to the relatively small demand, the chassis upgrade options of CMA-based models such as 03+ are also very limited.

Golf on MQB platforms such as Billstam, Saks, Stan, eibach and KYB can provide countless choices and have a huge modified ecosystem. However, LECK 03 of CMA can't find mass-produced big brand modified parts and has almost no ecosystem.

In view of the fact that the main target group of LECK brand, which occupies a large position in CMA architecture, is relatively young consumers, who may have certain needs in changing cars, Rutjun thinks that expanding the playability of CMA architecture is the next thing that Geely -LECK-Volvo needs to promote. After all, cars like 03+ have been built, and the owners still have to toss.

Write it at the end

As a modular architecture jointly developed by Geely and Volvo, the models born on the basis of CMA can give consumers a good sense of quality whether driving or riding, especially on some models of Geely brand and Lectra brand. It is really exciting to create a leapfrog driving experience at a price that is more acceptable to most consumers.

This is related to many goals and standards formulated by CMA architecture at the beginning of its development. But then again, although there are many models of CMA architecture, it is still relatively small compared with the platform architecture introduced earlier by other manufacturers. By enriching the product line and expanding the quantity, the advantages of modular architecture can be further exerted.

The question is, what kind of products should we continue to launch next to attract consumers? There are many kinds of SUVs, so is there any chance in the car market? Can pure electric vehicle products be decentralized to Lexus brand or even Geely brand?

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This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.