Abstract:Aspects of material selection and innovative concepts of car construction using aluminium as best suited light-weight materials were presented, and recent development in established and advanced use of aluminium in passenger cars was discussed that help to meet economic and environmental requirements. 5xxx and 6xxx aluminium alloys were presented that have been improved for the increasing demands regarding higher strength and better formability, resulting in a mass reduction and improved crashworthiness. Furthermore, advances concerning multi-material light weight design were presented by examples for aluminium solutions in advanced “Multi-material” Super-Light-Car (SLC) concepts, which reaches significant mass reductions.

Key words: automobile; body-in-white; light weight design; super-light-car