Wilmington, Delaware – Lightweighting will continue to be a crucial strategy for car manufacturers as they strive to meet the US 2025 Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.
The annual WardsAuto survey, sponsored by DuPont Automotive and carried out by Penton Market Research, found that 63% of those questioned in the survey are focusing on reducing weight in their fuel economy programmes.
“It’s no surprise to learn that lightweighting and the use of lightweight structural materials continue to top the list of strategies the industry remains focused on,” said Brian Fish, DuPont Performance Materials’ North American automotive marketing manager. “Lightweighting can be applied to virtually every component and part, and we continue to work with the industry to look for opportunities to reduce weight across systems.
Although lightweight materials, including polyurethanes, are increasingly important in cars, manufacturers are far from confident that the materials available today will be sufficient to meet the new standards. A shade over half of respondents – 51% – were only moderately confident the materials available now would help them meet the 2025 standards, and 28% were either minimally or not-at-all confident.
“Investing in the development of innovative and high-performance materials is a key strategy for DuPont,” Fish added. “We continue to actively partner with the automotive design and engineering community to find new solutions to reduce vehicle weight.”
