Vehicular Lightweighting: Path. Strategy. Endgame.
The automaker with the best solution for reducing weight will be the one with the clearest vision of the endgame and the strategy to get there.
Christopher A. Sawyer
Contributing Editor
Mazda, Subaru, Hyundai Group Top IIHS Safety Ratings
Tougher headlight criteria reduce number of Top Safety Pick+ winners
Takata Recalls Another 10 Million Airbag Inflators
Takata—the bankrupt airbag supplier responsible for the world’s largest auto-related recall ever—is throwing another 10 million defective devices into the mess.
Mercedes Recalls Nearly 745,000 Faulty Sunroofs
Daimler is calling back 744,900 Mercedes-Benz cars in the U.S. to check for glass sunroof panels that could blow off while the vehicle is moving.
Carbon Fiber Creations in Auto Applications
It is more “go” than “show,” although when it comes to interior trim the composite material provides a technical touch.
Toyota Takes Multi-Pronged Approach to Autonomoy
Toyota Research Institute is working to help make vehicles safer by increasing their levels of autonomy. But, for the near-term future, the driver isn’t going to be relinquishing the task of driving.
Transforming Volkswagen
A line up of electric cars and a new head of American operations may have a bigger transformation on VW (especially in the U.S.) than anything since the first Beetle arrived in the U.S. in 1949.
Smart Doors for Autonomous Vehicles
When cars go robotic, how will they know who to open their doors for? Answer: with doors that sense their surroundings, says Inteva Products CEO Lon Offenbacher.
Bill Hampton
Editor-in-Chief, AutoBeat Daily
What’s Nexo?
Hyundai has developed a hydrogen-powered vehicle that has the capability and the stylishness that might make people wonder why there aren’t more hydrogen stations.
Magna Forms Joint Ventures in China
Magna International is forming two new joint ventures with Beijing Electric Vehicle Co. (BJEV), a subsidiary of the state-owned automotive group BAIC, for (1) engineering and (2) manufacturing electric vehicles.
Magna, Polestar and More
Magna is an automotive supplier. But it is a Tier One supplier unlike many others.
Magna & the Challenges of Modern Automotive Manufacturing
Magna International is the third-largest automotive supplier on the planet.
Love Thy Supplier
The challenges facing the industry throughout the next decade almost make the last decade’s look easy.
Fisker Automotive: Help Wanted
Fisker Automotive has announced that it is going to be hiring people for the former GM assembly plant that it purchased in Wilmington, Delaware.
Uniti One: Another Scandinavian EV
Uniti has announced that its city car, the Uniti One, is open for deposits. If you live in Sweden or the UK.
Gary S. Vasilash
Editor-in-Chief, Automotive Design & Production
Jeeps Modified for Moab
On Easter morning in Moab, Utah, when the population of that exceedingly-hard-to-get-to town in one of the most beautiful settings on Earth has more than doubled, some people won’t be hunting for Easter eggs, but will be trying to get a good look at one of the vehicles six that Jeep has prepared for real-life, fast-feedback from the assembled at the annual Easter Jeep Safari.
Steel Study Shows How To Lighten Up
A two-year study by this international steel company has come up with a specific array of parts—including the materials and processes needed to transform them into parts—that can achieve significant weight savings without an increase in cost.
Potential Japanese Auto Parts Impact On U.S. Production
While several Japanese OEMs are still sorting out what they’ll be doing vis-à-vis the devastation brought on by the earthquake and tsunami*, and while most of them have significant vehicle manufacturing capability in other places in the world like the U.S., according to data and analysis from The Journal of Commerce/PIERS, there could be a significant impact on production by these companies at their U.S. facilities due to disruptions of containerized shipping.
TI Automotive Opens Fuel Tank Plant in Central Mexico
Fluid systems provider TI Automotive has ventured south of the border to San Luis Potosí, Mexico for the opening of its third North American—and 24th worldwide—fuel-tank systems manufacturing plant.
Measurement Tips For The Micro
When your parts are tiny, the measurement challenge can be huge.
Who Needs Paint?
Automakers have long dreamed of building assembly plants that don't need expensive, emissions-intensive paint shops. With plastic film technologies maturing quickly that dream may soon be within reach.
Why Is a Vehicle Introduced in 2011 Relevant Right Now?
While there is certainly an almost unprecedented transformation in vehicles occurring, a research project that commenced in 2009 has some big implications for OEMs still today. It has to do with steel.
Gary S. Vasilash
Editor-in-Chief, Automotive Design & Production
Do Plastic Body Panels Have A Future?
Remember those Saturn commercials showing shopping carts bouncing harmlessly off of plastic body panels? Good idea, right? But apparently the approach never really caught on. Now the question is: will it ever?
Meritor Leverages the Sandwich
The automotive supplier is taking modularity to a new level: to the roof. It has developed a mothod to combine coil-coated metal with a headliner and a polyurethane in between that not only can provide better physical properties for a roof, but which can improve assembly, as well.
From a Land Down Under
Don't look to see an aXcess australia on the road anytime soon—or otherwise. The Australian supply base along with government agencies do want the world to have a better understanding of the capabilities that can be found in that country, so while you'll never drive one, you can see the sorts of things they have in mind.
