Volkswagen Pledges for Lighter Bodyshells

It might seem like a trend nowadays but more and more car manufacturers are slowly focusing their efforts on developing lighter bodyshells for their cars. In the end, the result is the same: improved fuel efficiency, better handling, reduced emissions and, in some cases, even better safety. Volkswagen for instance designed a new Golf flavor that features a bodyshell 30 percent lighter compared with a five-door stock model, according to autocar.co.uk.

The prototype was rolled out following a broader campaign to reduce the final weight of a car in which there are involved four other manufacturers and no less than 32 suppliers. Together with Renault, Volvo and Daimler, Volkswagen plans to use the data gathered with the help of the SuperlightCar project in the development process of model year 2012 cars.

In order to better analyze the results of using lighter materials, Volkswagen designed three different concepts: one of them made of steel, one of mixed, but with cheaper materials and the third one made of a more expensive combination. The latter managed to reduce the weight of a Golf V's body by no less than 114 kilos, which means the manufacturer achieved a reduction of 41 percent.

The resulting model is a mix of all three aforementioned flavors, as Volkswagen attempted to get the best out of low cost materials and weight reduction. The prototype is 82 kg lighter, according to the source.

But that's not all. Volkswagen is also considering the production capacity of such a project, as the German manufacturer does not want to reduce the daily output of its plants following the implementation of weight saving methods. Overall, the company intends to produce around 1,000 cars per day.