By 2025, more than 75 percent of all new pickup trucks produced in North America will be aluminium-bodied, according to a survey of automakers conducted by Ducker Worldwide, global consulting and research firm.
16 Jun 2014 | 5579 Views | By Autocar Pro News Desk
By 2025, more than 75 percent of all new pickup trucks produced in North America will be aluminium-bodied, according to a survey of automakers conducted by Ducker Worldwide, global consulting and research firm.
The Aluminum Association’s Aluminum Transportation Group (ATG) commissioned Ducker Worldwide to conduct the ‘2015 North American ...
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By 2025, more than 75 percent of all new pickup trucks produced in North America will be aluminium-bodied, according to a survey of automakers conducted by Ducker Worldwide, global consulting and research firm.
The Aluminum Association’s Aluminum Transportation Group (ATG) commissioned Ducker Worldwide to conduct the ‘2015 North American Light Vehicle Aluminium Content Study’. Through detailed in-person interviews with automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), component suppliers and regulators, Ducker Worldwide maintains a comprehensive material use database to track material and mass of individual components for every vehicle model manufactured in North America. The findings of the study were compiled using data updated and verified between October 2013 and April 2014.
The study, which confirms a major breakthrough for automotive aluminium into high-volume vehicles, surveyed all major automakers and reports Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler will become the biggest users of aluminium sheet in the next decade. It also forecasts that the number of vehicles with complete aluminium body structures will reach 18 percent of North American production, from less than one percent today. Vehicle segments revealed as emerging aluminium content leaders are pickup trucks, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and both midsized and full-size sedans.
The study finds that every leading automaker will have numerous aluminium body and closure programs by 2025. As the material mix for body and closure parts continues to change dramatically in the years to come, use of aluminium sheet for vehicle bodies will increase to 4 billion pounds by 2025, from 200 million pounds in 2012.
“The numbers tell a powerful story of aluminium’s explosive growth across the automotive sector,” said Tom Boney, chairman of the Aluminum Association’s Aluminum Transportation Group and vice-president and general manager of automotive for Novelis in North America. “Within the next 10 years, seven out of 10 new pickups produced in North America will be aluminum-bodied, and so too will be more than 20 percent of SUVs and full–sized sedans. Aluminium-bodied cars and trucks are coming in a big way – and soon. Consumers won’t visibly notice a different metal under the paint, but they’ll see greater savings at the gas pump and experience better performance and handling at the wheel,” added Boney.
Additional findings include: