why not?

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Note added at 11 mins (2005-08-18 14:08:36 GMT)
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http://www.medea.org/webpublic/publications/publ_nov2002.htm

The MEDEA+ project SSAE (Silicon Systems for Automotive Electronics) is now taking this work a stage further by developing a common electrical and electronic vehicle architecture to link together the various electronic units in a car - from entertainment to control, but in full compliance with AMI-C (Automotive Multimedia Interface Collaboration) specifications. And it is working closely with the parallel EUREKA Information Technology for European Advancement (ITEA) cluster to define suitable software protocols.


http://www.engin.umd.umich.edu/ceep/tech_day/2002/reports/IM...

The goal of the project is to:

* Develop optimization algorithms, heuristic approaches, and software that allows Visteon to determine low-cost modular vehicle architecture for given vehicle features and feature take rates, i.e., architecture that minimizes average cost per vehicle

http://www.autofieldguide.com/articles/040302.html

“ High production alone won’t trans-late into higher profits,” says Mike Laisure, president, Engine and Fluid Management Group, Dana Corp. “The OEMs will have to work with us such that we can create a commonality of products and processes in order to effectively utilize our assets.” Some suppliers are already supplying different versions of a part–like an alternator–to different automakers, but they are building them on the same line using the same processes, and with the same capital base. This flexibility will have to transfer to vehicle architectures as well.