Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CEO Issue
    • Diversity
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2022 winners
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
August 09, 2013 02:00 AM

Lighter vehicles roll from research to road

Rhoda Miel
Managing Editor
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Joe Wilssens
    GM's Mike Regiec with a stripped-down aluminum and composite frame of the 2014 Corvette Stingray

    TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. — There was something new about the discussion on lighter-weight cars and trucks at the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars this year.

    As the 2013 session kicked off Aug. 5 in Traverse City, new lighter vehicles are hitting the road, using new technology and new materials and moving what had just been laboratory research out onto the assembly line as automakers begin the push to meet higher fuel economy standards.

    "Quite frankly, it's staggering to see where we have to get to," said Mike Regiec, manufacturing chief and technical fellow for body in white engineering at General Motors Co. "Getting to 54½ [miles per gallon by 2025] is going to require us to make every subsystem, every component as efficient as possible."

    Every 10 percent of weight savings in a car adds up to 3-4 percent in fuel savings, Regiec said, which is putting new emphasis on lighter technologies.

    Regiec was a key part of the team creating one of the highest-profile lightweight vehicles going into production this year.

    The 2014 Corvette Stingray has an aluminum frame and a composite-intensive body structure. To drive its lightweight, high-style point home, GM had both a complete Corvette parked in the shade outside the conference's home base of the Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City, and the stripped-down aluminum and composite frame on display inside.

    "As the saying goes, this is not your father's Oldsmobile," Regiec said.

    The Corvette's standard carbon-fiber hood and roof panels — made by Plasan Carbon Composites at its new plant in Walker, Mich. — have already gotten attention from the industry, but the car's developments in composites go beyond those parts.

    The car's aluminum frame has a composite underbody panel made with nanocarbon and fiberglass reinforcement. The sheet molded compound used on exterior panels is a lower-density composite that is 17 kilograms lighter than the SMC used on previous models of the Corvette.

    For the aluminum frame, GM developed new joining technologies to reduce the number of welds. Each weld, baffle and rivet adds weight to a car, Regiec said, and needs to be considered as part of the process of reducing weight.

    "The full range of lightweighting technology will expand," he said.

    The Corvette is far from being the only example of new, lightweight technology that is finally going into production. Jaguar Land Rover has a new aluminum frame on its latest sport utility vehicle. BMW AG's carbon-fiber i Series of all-electric cars are being rolled out this fall after more than a decade of R&D.

    "There is no one answer for lighter-weight solutions, but [companies] are reaching out to their R&D operations and starting to bring a lot of things out into production," said Dave Mason, vice president of global automotive for Altair Engineering Inc. of Troy, Mich.

    Altair sponsored the new Enlighten Award — presented to BASF AG for 2013 for a composite seat pan structure — to recognize lightweighting efforts throughout the global auto industry. Its 10 finalists took in the seat used in a model of GM's Opel Astra in Europe, as well as a composite leaf spring, aluminum chassis and carbon-fiber body panels.

    "Every system, every component throughout the vehicle is a candidate for weight savings," said Mike Day, DuPont Automotive Performance Polymers development director in North America.

    Don't expect other material suppliers to welcome composites with open arms. Phil Martens, president and CEO of aluminum maker Novelis Inc., downplayed the potential of carbon fiber to move into mainstream production. Martens maintained the carbon fiber is too expensive and takes too long to mold, saying it is only good for "esoteric" vehicles.

    In DuPont's annual auto survey, more than 60 percent of the 1,300 participants said the value of lightweighting is increasing. Mason noted that the closer the industry gets to its 2025 fuel economy mandate, the more important lighter-weight parts will be.

    Many of the fuel performance improvements that have taken place so far represent the low-hanging fruit of improved efficiency of a traditional internal combustion engine or greater use of hybrid power systems.

    Since 2005, Toyota Motor Co. has improved its fuel economy by 18 percent, said Justin Ward, general manager of the powertrain system control department for the Toyota technical center in North America. In the next 10 years, it will have to push for another 25 percent in improvements.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Half of Phillips 66 shareholders urge study on risk of investing in virgin plastic
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Entek expands US lithium-ion battery separator capacity with two new plants
    2
    ExxonMobil set to bring on new olefinic elastomer capacity
    3
    Viking Plastics invests $3 million in eight new injection molding machines
    4
    Polymer Points Live May 2022: Buyers see increases for PET, nylon and polycarbonate
    5
    Brückner Group USA buys new HQ site
    SIGN UP FOR TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS AND ENEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Diversity
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2022 winners
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
        • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified