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Accelerated Development of the 2000 Saturn Three-Door Coupe Rear Quarter Panel
Technical Paper
2001-01-0848
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Event:
SAE 2001 World Congress
Language:
English
Abstract
In 1990, Saturn Corporation began production of a vehicle line, including sedan and coupe body styles, utilizing polymer body panels. This polymer body panel system offers benefits to the end-use customer, including:
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Dent/ding resistance
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Corrosion resistance
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Weight savings enabling increased fuel economy and vehicle performance
Saturn Corporation also benefits from this polymer body panel system through significantly reduced up-front investment cost and shortened tooling lead times1.
The design, development, and manufacturing of polymer body panels for the new Three-Door Coupe will be discussed in this paper. Saturn drew upon experience gained over the past 8 years to take full advantage of the shorter lead times inherent in utilizing injection mold tooling. The shorter tooling lead-time enabled a successful fast vehicle development and launch.
The Three-Door Coupe is an industry first for Saturn. Being fast to market with a new vehicle is considered to be a significant competitive advantage that can help to enable market share growth. This paper will explain in more detail the specific program elements in the development of the Three-Door Coupe rear quarter panel.
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Authors
Citation
Dean, D. and Griffin, S., "Accelerated Development of the 2000 Saturn Three-Door Coupe Rear Quarter Panel," SAE Technical Paper 2001-01-0848, 2001, https://doi.org/10.4271/2001-01-0848.Also In
References
- 1991
- J.D. Power and Associates “Initial Quality Survey,” 1998
- J.D. Power and Associates “Vehicle Dependability Study,” 1998
- Phillip Townsend Associates Inc “Automotive Exterior Panels 1995, Materials, Manufacturing, Economics”