The General Motors A platform (commonly called A-body) was a mid-size car

Mid-size car

A mid-size car is the North American/Australian standard for an automobile with a size equal to or greater than that of a compact...

 automobile platform

Automobile platform

An automobile platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of automobiles, often from different, but related marques...

. The A-bodies evolved from rear wheel drive compacts, to rear wheel drive mid-size cars, to front wheel drive mid-size cars over the course of 32 years. The switch in drive layout in 1982 spawned the G-body

GM G platform (RWD)

The General Motors G platform was an automobile platform designation used for mid-sized rear wheel drive cars first from 1969-1972 and again from 1982 to 1988....

. In the end, every A-body car line was cancelled, but new nameplates on the GM W platform

GM W platform

The W-body is an automobile platform from General Motors which underpins mid-size cars with front-wheel drive. The platform, originally code named GM10, began in 1982 under Chairman Roger B. Smith and debuted in 1988 with the Pontiac Grand Prix, the Buick Regal, and the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme...

 have taken their place.

• 1964–1981 GM A platform (RWD)
  GM A platform (RWD)
  The General Motors A platform was a rear wheel drive automobile platform designation used from at least 1939 up until 1981...
  
   - Chevelle, LeMans, Century, Cutlass, El Camino
• 1982–1996 GM A platform (FWD)
  GM A platform (FWD)
  The General Motors A platform was a mid-size car automobile platform designation used from 1982 to 1996. Previously the A body designation had been used for rear wheel drive mid-sized cars....
  
  - Celebrity, 6000, Century, Cutlass Ciera