Improving Lightweight vehicle dynamics

Bosch engineers used numerical simulation to evaluate vehicle concepts using variable semi-active components, tire specifications, and suspension spring rates.

As comfort, electronics, and vehicle safety have played increasingly important roles in car development over the last 25 years, automobiles have gained weight. As an example, the 1972 Audi 80 had a mass of 835 kg (1840 lb) and its descendant, the current A4, scales in at nearly 1200 kg (2650 lb). In the future, lightweight vehicle concepts will gain importance as manufacturers strive to achieve reduced fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.

This trend is already under way with some automotive manufacturers, with the series production of the VW Lupo (3-L/100 Km) and the aluminum-intensive Audi A2 being two recent examples. Others are being developed under the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), a collaboration between U.S. carmakers to create a 3 L/100 km (78 mpg) family-sized car for the showroom by 2004. Ford's vehicle in this program, the P2000, is Mondeo/Contour-sized but with a mass reduced from 1500 to 900 kg (3300 to 2000 lb).