The fortunes of the steel and automotive industries have long been closely intertwined. The automotive industry is a vital market for steel suppliers, while steel is by some margin the most important material used in volume car construction: in particular, steel is the material choice for virtually all car bodies. Despite this, in recent years the steel industry has felt it's pre-eminent position under threat. Economic and environmental pressures on the automotive industry, combined with aggressive moves by the aluminum and plastic industries, have resulted in small but potentially significant erosion of market in share in a range of car component areas such as wheels and fuel tanks. However, it is the core market of vehicle body structures and closures that is of most importance to suppliers of high-value cold-rolled wide strip steel. The Ultra Light Steel Auto Body (ULSAB) project was designed to demonstrate that the steel industry could respond to the pressures on the automotive industry. This paper explains why ULSAB was created, describes the results of the project, and then considers some of the issues for steel industry strategy, which ULSAB raises.
Adapting steel for the automotive industry
Anwendungstechnik von Stahl in der Autoindustrie
EuroSteel, EuroSteel, 1998 ; 131-147
1998
17 Seiten, 7 Tabellen, 9 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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