Kobelco Aluminum Products & Extrusions Inc. (KPEX), the U.S. subsidiary of Kobe Steel, Ltd., held an opening ceremony celebrating its launch of extrusion operations in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The integrated production facility, which began operation in November 2018, manufactures and sells bumper and car frame materials, which are increasingly being implemented in vehicles. “We’re growing our business […]
Automotive is a key pillar of Constellium’s overall strategy, accounting for 24% of the company’s sales in 2018 with further growth expected in the near future. This growth is reflected in the company’s recent investments in its global Automotive Structures business unit, with two new plants in Mexico and Slovakia. These new facilities enable the […]
In recent years, Slovakia has grown to be a leading producer of cars in Europe, with automotive component manufacture growing alongside the presence of major automotive companies in the country — representing 44% of the country’s overall industry. Both Jaguar Land Rover and Gestamp have recently started up new production facilities for manufacturing aluminum components […]
Chevrolet introduced its newest Corvette this July, the 2020 C8 Stingray, which has a spaceframe structure comprised of aluminum. The luxury sports car is the first Corvette with a mid-engine configuration, which positions the engine behind the driver. The C8’s new mid-engine set up provides a rear weight bias, meaning more power is directed towards […]
Hydro formed an agreement with Audi, through which the aluminum producer will supply sustainable aluminum sheet for the battery housing of the e-tron — Audi’s first fully electric car model. Both partners are pursuing sustainability as an important goal in their corporate strategy and together want to reduce CO2 emissions from the use of aluminum. By 2025, […]
AMAG Austria Metall AG signed an agreement with Marubeni Corporation and Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. for the commercialization of AMAG’s automotive aluminum rolled products in Japan. The agreement enables the companies to bundle their strengths together in order to bring a number advantages for customers in the Japanese automobile industry concerning quality and delivery performance. In addition, this agreement intends […]
The Center for Automotive Research’s (CAR) Coalition for Automotive Lightweighting Materials (CALM) released a Roof Lightweighting Study aimed at highlighting the possibilities of mixed-material for mass reduction. A 2011 Honda Accord with a 270 MPa mild steel roof was selected as the baseline for the study, because of its potential for multi-material solutions. The roof […]
Automotive News reported that repairs of the aluminum-bodied Ford F-150 were comparable to and in some cases less than those for steel-bodied trucks. The Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that collision claim severity for aluminum F-150s was roughly 7% lower than its steel predecessor — in […]
The Battery Electric Vehicle Architectures (BEVA) Congress USA 2019 — a part of the GALM series of events — will explore development of electric vehicle (EV) architectures from a systems engineering point of view — both in design of brand new platforms and adoption of existing platforms. The focus will be on cutting development costs while […]
