Global Viewpoints North America Body building

The quest for lighter, quieter, and safer cars and light trucks influences the design and engineering of most vehicle areas-body not excluded.

To achieve the ubiquitous goals of less mass and enhanced performance- in addition to other objectives such as improved safety and weight-distribution characteristics-executives and engineers in the vehicle body area must necessarily consider what materials will be best suited to specific applications. And today, there is a smorgasbord of materials from which to choose.

“It [material selection] depends on the compelling and sometimes competing objectives that you're trying to address with the vehicle design,” said Mike Donoughe, Vice President, Family Vehicle Product Team, Chrysler Group. “Sometimes you go to aluminum because of its lightweight characteristics, and while the material itself might cost more, the total system cost might actually be beneficial relative to steel.”