Aluminum in Cars

Today's European cars contain an average of 132 kg of aluminium components. In the short term, many additional aluminium applications could be realised without significant re-engineering and extensive cost impact (e.g. by the use of more aluminium hang-on parts). This could easily reduce the average weight of the cars produced in Europe by 40 kg.

Aluminium is the ideal light-weighting material as it allows a weight saving of up to 50% over competing materials in most applications without compromising safety.
Because the average mass of passenger cars has dramatically increased since the 1970's and because vehicle weight directly impacts fuel consumption, light-weighting is necessary more than ever to reduce CO2 emissions per km at the exhaust pipe.

The EAA brochure "Aluminium in cars" highlights numerous advantages of aluminium applications in passengar cars.