Manufacturer Ford Motor Company | Production Ford D3: 2005–present | |
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Assembly Ford: Chicago, Illinois (Chicago Assembly) Class Mid-size car
Full-size car
Full-size luxury car Layout Front-wheel drive, all-wheel drive Body style(s) 4-door Sedan
5-door Station wagon
5-door Full-size CUV
5-door Mid-size SUV | ||
The Ford D3 platform is a Ford global full-size unibody automobile platform. It is derived from Volvo's P2, designed by the automaker before its 1999 acquisition by Ford, and adaptable to front- or all wheel drive on a variety of wheelbases. Officially, the D3 serves as the replacement for the D186 platform; in terms of market position and interior volume, the D3 serves as the closest successor to the long-running vehicles of the Ford Panther platform.
Contents
Ford assembles all D3-platform vehicles at the Chicago Assembly plant in Chicago, Illinois, while Volvos are built at the company's Torslanda Works in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Overview
The Ford D3 platform differs slightly from the original configuration of the Volvo P2 architecture, primarily in its adoption of a common 112.9 inch wheelbase (a three-inch wheelbase stretch) for all variants. To reduce production costs, Ford Motor Company adopted steel suspension arms (in place of aluminum) and similar material cost-saving measures.
From 2005 to 2016, the Ford D3 platform has underpinned the Ford Five Hundred, Ford Taurus (fifth and sixth generations), Ford Taurus SHO, Ford Police Interceptor Sedan, Ford Freestyle (later Ford Taurus X), Mercury Montego, Mercury Sable, and Lincoln MKS.
D4
D4 is a revision of D3 unibody platform created to underpin crossover SUVs and adaptable to multiple wheelbases. It forms the basis of the Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT; in 2011, the Ford Explorer adopted the D4 architecture as it moved from a body-on-frame chassis.