The next car you buy will probably be lighter, courtesy of federal mandates to increase average gas mileage by 30% to 40% over the next five years. Automakers figure the easiest and cheapest way to cut fuel consumption is to make passenger cars, which now weigh about 3,500 pounds on average, about 400 pounds lighter.
Under Uncle Sam’s new rules, the current 27.5 miles per gallon minimum for passenger cars will jump to 33.8 mpg for 2012 models and 39.5 mpg for 2016 models. A similar phased-in approach for light trucks will require them to average 29.8 mpg for 2016 models.
The upshot: Heated competition between steel and aluminum manufacturers for a larger slice of the lucrative pie. Aluminum makers have a weighty advantage and are aiming to use it to muscle out steel for use in vehicle roofs and other body panels, engines and structural components.
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Be a smarter, better informed investor.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
Manufacturers such as Alcoa, Rio Tinto Alcan and Novelis are developing aluminum products with greater strength to better stand up to the everyday dings that cars pick up in parking lots and elsewhere, as well as specialty versions for use in bumpers that crumple to absorb the force of a collision. The aluminum industry is honing its strategy to win a large chunk of the plug-in electric car market that will take off within five years.
Steelmakers are fighting back with a lighter generation of high-strength steel.Thanks to research stretching back 20 years, automotive steel today weighs around 25% less than it did during the heyday of muscle cars in the 1960s and 1970s. Automakers including Ford routinely use this steel in key structural components in auto body pillars and panels.
Now steelmakers are on the cusp of commercializing a breakthrough product that is not only 10% lighter yet, but stronger and more easily molded. “This third-generation product will enable us to make auto parts that are much lighter than today because the steel can be made thinner with no compromise in strength,” says Ronald Krupitzer, a vice president for automotive applications with the American Iron and Steel Institute, a trade group.
Down the road, look for steel and aluminum to be challenged by an even-lighter-weight contender -- composite carbon fiber. Long used in aerospace and for pricey bicycles and tennis rackets, the pricey material has been finding its way into exotic cars such as Chevrolet’s Corvette ZR-1.
Odds are the price differential between carbon fiber and aluminum and steel will narrow by decade’s end, thanks in part to research and development at the Department of Energy’s laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and at Magna International, Canada’s largest automotive parts supplier.
-
Markets Are Quiet Ahead of Fed Day: Stock Market TodayInvestors, traders and speculators appear to be on hold amid an unusually fraught Fed meeting.
-
Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the OBBB, Wealth Transfer and Early RetirementQuiz The financial professionals who contribute to Kiplinger's Adviser Intel recently wrote about the OBBB's impact on retirement, how to ensure your wealth passes to your family and early retirement questions.
-
Small Businesses Are Racing to Use AIThe Kiplinger Letter Spurred on by competitive pressures, small businesses are racing to adopt AI. A recent snapshot shows the technology’s day-to-day uses.
-
How AI Puts Company Data at RiskThe Kiplinger Letter Cybersecurity professionals are racing to ward off AI threats while also using AI tools to shore up defenses.
-
AI Start-ups Are Rolling in CashThe Kiplinger Letter Investors are plowing record sums of money into artificial intelligence start-ups. Even as sales grow swiftly, losses are piling up for AI firms.
-
What is AI Worth to the Economy?The Letter Spending on AI is already boosting GDP, but will the massive outlays being poured into the technology deliver faster economic growth in the long run?
-
Kiplinger Special Report: Business Costs for 2026Economic Forecasts Fresh forecasts for 2026, to help you plan ahead and prepare a budget on a range of business costs, from Kiplinger's Letters team.
-
Trump-Era Regulations Will Broaden Access to CryptoThe Kiplinger Letter The president wants to make the U.S. the leader in digital assets.
-
How to Adopt AI and Keep Employees Happy
The Kiplinger Letter As business adoption of AI picks up, employee morale could take a hit. But there are ways to avoid an AI backlash.
-
The Rise of AI: A Kiplinger Special ReportThe Kiplinger Letter Our special report looks at the opportunities and challenges of generative AI and how its rapid move into the mainstream is impacting every aspect of our lives.
