What is the Kappa Platform? What is the Kappa Architecture?
[summary compiled from various articles and discussions over the last two years] The Kappa Platform, or architecture, is a new vehicle architecture developed by General Motors to enable the Pontiac Solstice to become reality as a production car. A vehicle architecture or platform is the basic underlying, load-bearing structure in a vehicle. Analogous to the framing of a building, it also is the majority of expense in production, design, and validation of a new car. A typical strategy for an automotive company is to develop a new architecture or platform rarely – and use that platform for producing variants or improving successive generations of vehicles. Regarding the Kappa Platform: In 2002, the Pontiac Solstice Concept was shown, in two forms: a driveable roadster convertible, and a design study of a fastback coupe. The Pontiac Solstice was recieved very well at the 2002 NAIAS. The driveable roadster concept car shown had been cobbled together from many different components, using a
