Aluminium favoured over Steel – by Ford in America
One of the big stories to watch in the automotive industry is the rise of aluminium in the manufacturing process. Traditionally, modern cars are made from steel with up to 60% of a vehicle made from that metal. Steel has been favoured for decades although the steel itself has become lighter: modern steel is a micro-alloy that incorporates many elements which make it lighter and stronger than older variants. Aluminium, however, is significantly lighter than even the modern variants of steel – “one-third the density and almost equally as strong” is how one industry insider described it. Now, Ford is taking a chance on aluminium with the news from 2014 that Ford unveiled an aluminium-bodied F150 pick-up truck in November.
Mark Fields, Ford Motor’s chief executive, on Tuesday insisted the company had silenced sceptics after it started production of a new, aluminium-bodied version of the vehicle analysts believe accounts for a majority of its global profits…The company has introduced the new body – which has cut the vehicle’s weight by 700lbs and should reduce fuel consumption by between 5 and 20 per cent – as part of meeting its obligations under the US government’s Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency rules.” (Financial Times)
While aluminium has been in use in the automotive industry already insiders say it has never been rolled out on this scale before. Honda, for instance, already uses aluminium for some parts of its vehicles and sources say it isn’t ruling out aluminium body panels in the future. Steelmakers highlight their product’s considerable cost advantages with a tonne of basic automotive steel costing €645, against €3,800 for a tonne of comparable aluminium, however, because of aluminium’s lower density, it can still be cost-effective to employ it instead of steel – say aluminium industry sources.
The switch to aluminium has been regarded as especially high risk because the vehicle, the best-selling vehicle in North America for the last 32 years, accounts for a disproportionate share of Ford’s profits. The company declines to break down its profits by vehicle lines but some analysts have attributed as much as 90 per cent of the company’s global profit in recent years to the F-series vehicles, of which the F150 is the flagship.” (Financial Times)