Trends in Automotive Light Weighting

Abstract

Automotive industry globally is under pressure to cut emissions and improve average fuel economy of their vehicle models. This will address both the efforts to mitigate climatic change and huge oil import bills. Light weighting of vehicles can be achieved through architectural changes, material substitution and advanced manufacturing processes. Advanced materials like High strength steels, Aluminium and Magnesium alloys, composites along with advanced manufacturing processes like hot-stamping, vacuum casting, laser and adhesive joining can effectively reduce the vehicle weight but at a cost higher than current materials and designs. Premium segment vehicles have been using these technologies to substantially reduce vehicle weight and market their products successfully in many countries. Indian OEMs like Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. have also demonstrated as well as implemented several light weight technologies in their mass market vehicle models. This paper provides many such interesting examples along with details on different materials and manufacturing processes.