Lightweighting the way

Alcoa believes aluminum is a critical component in reducing the weight of vehicles-and making the world a better place.

Aluminum will be greenhouse gas neutral by 2025, according to an Alcoa report on its website: “In the critical transportation industry, our research in life cycle modeling has shown that by [2025] the emissions of the entire aluminum industry can be offset by the potential emission savings from the transport sector's increased use of aluminum.”

Having the transportation sector indeed use more aluminum in its end products is the ultimate goal of Kevin Kramer, President of Alcoa's newly formed Wheel and Transportation Products business unit. It made sense to combine the previous Wheel Products and Auto and Truck Structures businesses into one unit, he said, because of their adjacent growth opportunities and common customer needs for highly engineered, lightweight solutions.