The doctors are in

Engineering-service companies such as Ricardo, FEV, and IAV are on call to help automakers and suppliers overcome the loss of engineers as they diagnose and solve weight-reduction and fuel-economy problems.

The global economic downturn forced layoffs and reorganizations at automakers and their suppliers that eroded some of their technical capabilities and their institutional knowledge at the very time when market conditions and government regulations were forcing a near-revolution in product design to make vehicles more fuel efficient. The result of these opposing forces for many car makers and suppliers has been to rely on engineering-service companies to help them find ways to boost the fuel economy of models under development.

A particularly inviting target in that effort is the bloated mass that many current vehicles have attained during the push for increased safety over the last decade, as cars increased their crash protection armor at the expense of fuel-sucking added mass. This is where engineering-service companies offer to help.