VH architecture -where did the name come from?

[JohnG1]

Happened to take the train to Milton Keynes and thence a taxi to Newport Parnell. While in the back of the cab I noticed that in Milton Keynes the east/west roads are all numbered H1, H2 and the north/south roads are all, you guessed it, V1' V2 and so on.

So, is the real source of the inspiration for the name the road naming convention of Milton Keynes?

[AdamV12V]

Just a co-incidence I believe, in both instances V = Vertical and H = Horizontal.

[bogie]

Wasn't it a Lotus consultancy methodology ? ...that's where the bonded aluminium chassis originated...with the S1 Elise nearly 10 years before the DB9 being the first Gaydon era Aston to be built in that way.

[12pack]

Actually it has little to do with the architecture itself. It has to do with integration (during Ford's ownership) of the platforms, V referring to vertical integration and H referring to horizontal, i.e., across the model range.

[Jon39]

bogie said:

Wasn't it a Lotus consultancy methodology ? ...that's where the bonded aluminium chassis originated..

Yes, they were originally built at a premises in Worcester, which is now Lotus Lightweight Assemblies Ltd. At the time, the business was not owned by Lotus, but I cannot remember the previous name. For a long time, Aston Martin have been building the chassis themselves at Gaydon.

Many aluminium parts are bonded together to create the chassis, and therefore the design can easily be altered to change the Vertical and Horizontal dimensions. One of the (Gaydon) factory YouTube videos shows clearly how the assembly is done.

My impression is that AM probably regretted giving the VH Architecture name to their chassis construction process. Eventually journalists kept saying how old the chassis was, purely because it continued to have the same VH name. Now the DB11 has an 'all new' nameless chassis, you guessed it, made from bonded aluminium components. Journalist problem solved.

[DB9VolanteDriver]

12pack said:

Actually it has little to do with the architecture itself. It has to do with integration (during Ford's ownership) of the platforms, V referring to vertical integration and H referring to horizontal, i.e., across the model range.

The H is referring to across 'brands', not model range, I.e., Volvo, Jaguar, etc. The V refers to model range; systems and subsystems that can be used on various models within the brand. Once Ford divested itself of AM, the term VH really no longer applied, but being stuck with it, was reinterpreted in other 'incorrect' ways as above, or as meaning height and length of the chassis.

[Jon39]

DB9VolanteDriver said:

The H is referring to across 'brands', not model range, I.e., Volvo, Jaguar, etc. The V refers to model range; systems and subsystems that can be used on various models within the brand. Once Ford divested itself of AM, the term VH really no longer applied, but being stuck with it, was reinterpreted in other 'incorrect' ways as above, or as meaning height and length of the chassis.

My understanding is wrong then.
Never trust Wikipedia and their five generations of VH platforms.

As the H actually means across brands, which Jaguar and Volvo cars used bonded aluminium chassis platforms?
Did the bonded chassis concept for automobiles originate with Lotus?

I do know the firm in Worcester were manufacturing chassis for both Lotus and Aston Martin, but I don't think they had the capability to handle the volumes which would apply to Jaguar or Volvo.

[DB9VolanteDriver]

It is VH architecture, not VH chassis. It is the systems and subsystems that get shared across models and brands, not the chassis itself.