The A platform was shared by the Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Pontiac 6000 and Chevrolet Celebrity.

As part of their legacy, they became enormously popular — as well as synonymous with GM's most transparent example of badge engineering: the four were highlighted almost indistinguishably on the August 22, 1983 cover of Fortune magazine as examples of genericized uniformity, embarrassing the company and ultimately prompting GM to recommit to design leadership.

[1][2][3] Introduced for the 1982 model year, the A-Bodies were essentially similar in mechanical layout and interior space to the troubled X-car compacts on which they were based.

Vehicles using the A platform were initially offered alongside other GM rear-drive nameplates, e.g., the Malibu, in the intermediate class — eventually supplanting them in 1989.

Additionally the first generation U-body minivan (1990–1996) was constructed utilizing a lightly modified version of the A-body chassis.