New Volkswagen Golf
lightens up with high- and ultra high-strength steel
Advanced steel grades help
Volkswagen’s best-selling vehicle drop up to 220 pounds while offering improved
safety and performance
Brussels, 6
Sept. 2012 – WorldAutoSteel, the
automotive group of the World Steel Association, is saluting the news that
Volkswagen’s new Golf uses an increased amount of advanced steel grades to aid
in its safety-conscious lightweighting efforts. The seventh-generation Golf is
up to 220 pounds lighter than its predecessor and offers more features, better
safety and improved performance. According to Volkswagen, advanced steels play
an active role in this successful weight reduction.
Breaking the trend of
being heavier than the outgoing version, the new Golf’s lighter weight is the
result of calculated weight savings throughout the vehicle, including its
electrical architecture, engine and the body-in-white. According to Volkswagen,
the vehicle’s body-in-white is 51 pounds lighter then the sixth-generation Golf,
due in part to the automaker’s extensive use of high- and ultra high-strength
steels.
“Volkswagen’s use of
advanced steel technologies is a great example of how this transformational
material can help automakers drive into the future of vehicle lightweighting and
safety,” Cees ten Broek, Director, WorldAutoSteel, said. “We applaud Volkswagen
on this remarkable achievement and consider the seventh-generation Golf a
testament to steel’s successful lightweighting and safety
capabilities.”
According to a company
announcement, the share of overall high-strength steel has gone from 66 percent
in the sixth-generation vehicle to 80 percent in the new one. Of this, the share
of ultra high-strength steel has gone from six to 28 percent. The Golf’s lighter
weight will improve its fuel economy, while also lowering the vehicle’s carbon
footprint.
According to
Volkswagen, the Golf is the hatchback of choice – with its global sales
exceeding 29 million – for buyers demanding German engineering coupled with
benchmark levels of quality, safety, style and refinement. The
seventh-generation Golf is slated to make its public debut at the Paris Motor
Show in late September.
“Given steel’s unique
combination of strength and ductility, WorldAutoSteel is confident that it’s the
best material solution to help automakers achieve their evolving strength,
recyclability, fuel economy and emissions, and safety requirements,” ten Broek
said. “WorldAutoSteel is a committed partner to the automotive industry and will
continue dedicating its resources to continue to make steel the material of
choice to meet the industry’s evolving needs.”
WorldAutoSteel, the
automotive group of the World Steel Association, is comprised of 18 major global
steel producers from around the world. WorldAutoSteel’s mission is to advance
and communicate steel’s unique ability to meet the automotive industry’s needs
and challenges in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way.
WorldAutoSteel is committed to a low carbon future, the principles of which are
embedded in our continuous research, manufacturing processes, and ultimately, in
the advancement of automotive steel products. To learn more about
WorldAutoSteel and its projects, visit www.worldautosteel.org
or follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/FSVGreenSteel.
Members of WorldAutoSteel are:
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment