Lighten Up Steel Companies Pitch New, Lightweight Auto Frame

Steel companies say they have developed a car body that is 25 percent lighter than the typical steel car body.

The 35 steel producers said Wednesday they will ask the Big Three automakers to join them in designing an even lighter car - one that would weigh 40 percent less than midsize cars on the road today.

“I’m here to tell you that from this day forward the words ‘lightweight’ and ‘steel’ can and will be used in the same sentence,” said Robert J. Darnall, chairman of the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Lighter vehicles improve mileage and help reduce emissions. Big Three automakers have been researching such vehicles, but some of their high-profile efforts have focused on car bodies made from aluminum, plastic and fiberglass.

The steel companies, which hold more than 90 percent of the market for auto bodies, said they want to prove that steel also can be lightweight. They have spent $22 million since 1994 to develop what they call the UltraLight Steel Auto Body.

Steelmakers said the weight reduction can be achieved at no additional cost by using higher strength, thinner steel, fewer parts and a more simple frame design and structure.

Simulations show the body will satisfy federal crash safety requirements, the companies said.

The steel producers said they will ask the Partnership For A New Generation of Vehicles to join them in developing a 2,000-pound steel car - much lighter than today’s 3,300-pound midsize car. The partnership is a government and Big Three consortium charged with developing an 80 miles-per-gallon car by 2004.

Allan D. Murray, Ford Motor Co.’s technical director for the partnership, said automakers have always viewed steel as a key part to a future lightweight vehicle. He said the final prototype will probably have a combination of steel and other materials such as aluminum and plastic.

But Murray acknowledged it would be difficult to develop an all-steel, 2,000-pound car. “There’s a big step to be made beyond what they’ve already done,” he said.

Chrysler Corp. in January unveiled a concept car called the ESX2 that weighs 2,250 pounds and has a body made of six plastic panels. Ford last fall showed off the prototype of a car made from aluminum that weighs 2,000 pounds.

General Motors Corp.’s EV1 electric car, which weighs 2,970 pounds, has an aluminum body.