Porsche's lightweight GT3 gets heavier, and that's the point
Porsche's 911 GT3 Bergsport swaps its lightest magnesium wheels for forged aluminium, proving that a few extra kilos can make sense when the road gets serious. There are few places where saving weight matters more than inside a Porsche 911 GT3. Yet for its new 911 GT3 Bergsport, Porsche has done...
New DuAlumin-3D alloy could unlock stronger 3D-printed aluminium engine parts
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have advanced the use of DuAlumin-3D for high-temperature automotive components, opening new possibilities for stronger, lighter 3D-printed aluminium parts in engines and beyond. Aluminium has long been attractive for automotive components because it...
Grow with
AL Circle
Honda finds solution that enables steel and aluminium to be joined
Japanese car manufacturer Honda Motor Company has announced that it has developed a technology that allows steel and aluminium to be joined. Honda says the innovation will allow it to manufacture weight-saving vehicle doors that combine a steel structure with an aluminium outer skin. Joining...
Jaguar's small saloon styling to be 'off-centre' of class standard
The Jaguar BMW 3-series rival will be styled to be “off-centre” of the class standard, according to design boss Ian Callum, but he has conceded that entering such a well-established segment of the car market makes his job of producing a car, that stands out from the crowd particularly, difficult....
Volvo applies Formula One technology in next-gen XC90
Volvo realizes it can’t continue on the same path forever. Now 11 years old, the XC90 is one of the oldest production cars on sale today, according to an Autocar report. Accordingly, Volvo engineers are hard at work on a new Scalable Product Architecture platform, which it claims is “flexible and...
Kobe Steel's aluminum forging plant in China completes expansion
Kobe Steel, Ltd. announces that the second-phase expansion of the aluminum forging plant at subsidiary Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products (China) Co., Ltd. has been completed and the new equipment has begun mass production. Construction of the second-phase expansion began in December 2011. A joint...
Henkel introduces pretreatment process to increase aluminum use in vehicle manufacturing
Henkel Corporation's automotive group today announced the North American production debut of its BONDERITE Flex Process on the 2013 Ford F-150. The Flex Process, used on the body of the 2013 F-150, enables a significant increase in aluminum content on vehicles by replacing the traditional zinc...
Study shows aluminum's superiority over steel
A new study released today shows that an all-aluminum vehicle can shed more than 40 percent body mass, boosting fuel economy by 18 percent when combined with secondary mass savings and other design changes. The study helps explain why car and truck makers are shifting away from steel to aluminum,...
Revenue from auto sheet expected to surge to $580 million
Alcoa expects to more than triple its sales of aluminium sheet to automakers by 2015 as they reduce car weight by substituting it for steel in car bodies, an Alcoa executive said. Revenue from auto sheet - mainly used in car bodies - is expected to surge to $580 million by 2015 from $160 million...
Audi involved in setting standard for sustainable aluminum
AUDI AG is joining the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative to help develop a global standard for sustainable aluminum. As a pioneer in unitary aluminum car bodies, the company is taking the opportunity to influence the entire value chain of one of its most important materials—one of the objectives of...
Aluminum makes headway with Autos
Tata Motors, owner of Jaguar Land Rover, has announced that all future Jaguars and Land Rovers will be aluminum-built. It can be a difficult material to form and weld, but Jaguar has developed the skills and machinery to do so. Now it’s confident enough to build Land Rovers and Range Rovers from...
Superior Aluminum Alloys recognized as 2012 Supplier of the Year winner
Steel Dynamics, Inc. announced today that General Motors recognized one of the company's subsidiaries, Superior Aluminum Alloys LLC, as one of its best global automotive suppliers on Wednesday, March 13 during its 21st annual Supplier of the Year awards ceremony. The event was held at the Charles...
2014 Acura MDX debuts at the New York International Show
Acura has unveiled the 2014 MDX luxury SUV at the 2013 New York International Auto Show. Built on a completely new platform, the seven-passenger MDX offers improved ride comfort, a more versatile cabin, increased fuel efficiency and enhanced performance. The MDX will also be offered for the first...
Toyota 86 Cup Edition, the Germany-only model, released
The Toyota 86 Cup Edition has been released to mark Toyota’s involvement in the VLN endurance racing championship series, hosted at Germany’s famed Nurburgring circuit. Exclusively built and sold in Germany, and limited to just 86 cars, the Toyota 86 Cup Edition (called the GT86 in Europe) sees...
Renault chooses Idra for its new die casting machines
Renault Argentina invested 50,000,000 pesos ($4.02 million) to increase its production capacity of aluminum die casting parts with innovative technology in its Cordoba Aluminum foundry plant. IDRA has been selected among all producers of High Pressure die Casting machines. Two Idra 2.200 ton full...
Chris Smith appointed as the plant manager of Novelis Oswego
Novelis, the world’s premier producer of rolled aluminum and the global leader in aluminum recycling, announced the appointment of Chris Smith as the new plant manager of its Oswego facility. A 28-year Novelis veteran, Smith’s most recent position was Global Director of Automotive Products at the...
Steel industry gears up to meet aluminium's entry in automobiles
The auto industry is under pressure to lighten its vehicles to reduce emissions and boost fuel economy. That’s a potential boon for aluminum producers and a possible bust for the steel industry. According to an article in Automotive News, high-strength steels will “likely…dominate in Europe” while...
Aleris International opens new aluminum mill in Belgium
Beachwood aluminum company, Aleris International, opened its biggest European expansion in years on Thursday, a $70 million plant in Duffel, Belgium. The new plant, which employs nearly 1,000 people, makes wide sheets of aluminum for the auto industry. Automakers can stamp out huge body panels from...
Hydro expands automotive capacity
After expansion, this annealing facility AL2 will be able to produce up to 50,000 metric tons of aluminium car body strip annually for a European market for aluminium car body components that is expected to boom by 15 to 20 per cent each year between 2011 and 2018. The AL2 line in Grevenbroich....
AUDI AG joins aluminium stewardship initiative
AUDI AG is joining the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative to help develop a global standard for sustainable aluminum. As a pioneer of unitary aluminum car bodies, the company is taking the opportunity to influence the entire value chain of one of its most important materials – one of the objectives...
