General Motors CEO Dan Akerson stated that the automaker’s next-generation line of products will be at least 15 percent lighter in total curb weight compared to today’s vehicles. That’s quite an ambitious goal by anyone’s standards, but if GM engineers can pull it off, it should pay dividends in the fuel economy department, and hopefully shake the stereotype that its products are “fat”.
One would think that GM would utilize all-aluminum bodies and carbon fiber to cut weight, but according to Automotive News, a different approach will be taken. For instance, engineers may actually implement more high-strength steel for the body-in-white, while also blending in lightweight magnesium for select components such as transmission cases, and aluminum  for things like doors, decklids, hoods, and smaller structural parts.
GM will also utilize cutting-edge manufacturing techniques, such as spot welding, which eliminates the need for rivets. There’s also the GM Ventures investment in NanoSteel, which is expected to bear fruition soon.
2016 also happens to be the year when CAFE standards ramp up to a 35.5 miles per gallon standard.
Comments
Pretty cool news, since almost all cars just keep becoming heavier and heavier from extra equipment and safety standards.
Sub-3,000 pound Cruze? Possible faster engine? Sign me up!
Fabulous news, but I’m still curious to know why GM products are currently almost always much heavier than comparable products from their competitors? Even my ’12 Cruze Eco is heftier than similar vehicles, but the car IS much quieter and solid. Can soundproofing add 200 pounds?
You’d be surprised how much dead weight sound-proofing materials can add to the mass of a vehicle. 200 pounds of insulation and foam in a Cruze doesn’t seem too far from the actual number.
The truth is many of GM’s cars are old. The first real all new post Chapter 11 platform is the ATS and the weight loss is telling.
The fact is GM now has the money to redo many of these platforms they have put off for too long to bring their weights down. It cost a lot of money to lose weight with redesigns but GM knows it must attack the mass.
GM is also working hard on molded Carbon Fiber. Carbon Fiber is not expensive in material but it is very labor intensive to make. By this molding process they can cut down production time and cut cost.
GM has used Boron steel in many areas but will expand the use. It is lighter and stronger but cost more but is still cheaper than Aluminum in many areas and cheaper to weld.
If GM can cut weight not only will it help MPG but it will help performance. You gain performance in ways you can not by just adding more HP. Handling and Braking improves in ways no other way you can gain them. Also it will improve 0-60 times on cars that are getting smaller and smaller engines.
The key will be to control cost and not get the dreaded Lotus fragility. GM needs to keep their quality up as they do this. Some of the Asian imports are almost borderline in some ways the sheet metal holds up.
The Alpha platform is a great step. But the cars really in need of a weight reduction are the Epsilon family. The Delta and Gamma platforms are really out of step with the competition too. I don’t expect Zeta to stick around much longer either
Matt, the Alpha and new C7 platform were the first in GM’s mass-reduction approach. The Delta and Epsilon will follow suit.
Looks like an expensive, lengthy, daunting but absolutely necessary task. I wish GM the best of luck with this and at the same time I look forward to buying a future car that is lighter, faster and gets better fuel economy. 🙂
Don’t go to flimsy if I want cheap & nasty, tinny with shoddy build quality there’s peugoet & I don’t want a peugoet or any other ill built rubbish.
Jon, flimsy is not the direction in which GM’s weight reduction efforts will take the automaker’s products. Instead, these will be architectural changes means to eliminate mass where it is not needed at all. We’ll have a detailed look at what that means shortly.
Maybe when I’m a grandad & my grand kids are driving a 200cc diesel hybrid oval ach back, I can say back in the day we had proper cars lad, with V6 & V8 engines.
This I like. Shedding a little weight from their offerings is a good thing. I just hope they remain as solid structurally as my 2011 Malibu, which from looking at specs in brochures etc. weighs real close to the full size Le Sabre I had. Better mileage should also be a benefit of this, I’m hoping.
OK, so GM is addressing the weight issue, and GM is addressing the engine issue, but what about that thing that makes one efficiently deal with the other? (Transmission anyone?) Why have we heard nothing of advancements beyond an increase in the number of speeds? Others have moved on to CVTs or dual clutch systems of various sorts. Some are very good and some still have kinks to work out, but just about everyone is working on it. Did GM come to some strategic conclusion that differs from everyone else, or is the subject simply Top Secret?
I do commend GM for placing an emphasis on build quality and sound mitigation. That is weight well worth carrying. Bring me a Buick hatch that is refined.
I Still think this is wrong.