Caparo Creates Advanced Vehicle Technology Group Focused on Lightweight Materials
13 March 2006
Caparo—a UK-based $1.25-billion multinational with interests in aluminium and steel processing and vehicle structural components—is creating an advanced automotive technology and engineering design company to be called Caparo Vehicle Technologies.
The new company will provide advanced technology development, materials engineering and design services to mainstream automotive, motorsport and aerospace markets. Coupled with its global manufacturing resource and capability Caparo aims to accelerate the use of lightweight materials in vehicle structures.
To launch the company Caparo acquired the automotive consultancy recently established by two engineers who were part of the team that developed the iconic McLaren F1: Ben Scott-Geddes and Graham Halstead.
The two were responsible for the Mercedes SLR McLaren sports car—the first advanced composite all carbon body structure to undergo Euro NCAP testing during its development.
We will use our vehicle technology company to add new materials know-how to our existing aluminium and steel structural capabilities. To me, advanced composites represents an important development in delivering to our customers better vehicle efficiency with less environmental impact and without having to compromise the enjoyment of motoring. The optimum combination of these different materials in the next generation of vehicles—be they cars, trucks, boats or planes—will be a unique selling proposition for our customers.
—Angad Paul, Caparo CEO
Motorcycles have gotten lighter. Why haven't cars? by Csaba Csere, Car & Driver Magazine, October 2005.
Engineers who deal with vehicles are usually obsessed with weight. That's because whether a machine rolls on wheels, flies through the air, or floats in the water, every extra ounce makes it more difficult to accelerate, stop, or change direction. ...
If less weight equals better performance, then why are cars getting steadily heavier—a lot heavier? When I've suggested to industry engineers that every modern car and truck should lose between 500 and 1000 pounds, I've heard no argument.
The usual excuse for this vehicular corpulence is increased customer demand for stiffness and rigidity. These expectations are compounded by modern tires, which are much wider and stickier than '70s rubber, and vastly more powerful modern engines. Both of these improvements tend to bend and twist vehicle structure to a greater degree, while the customers want their cars to feel more solid and stable. The engineers lament that the only solution is more heavy metal. But does it need to be this way?
Motorcycles have undergone a similar transformation in the past 25 years. But rather than pork up, they've become much lighter, ...
So why have bikes slimmed down while cars have swollen? The difference is materials and structural design. ...
Meanwhile, cars are still built pretty much the same as they've been for a half-century, made from spot-welded steel stampings. ...
Until other cars and trucks take advantage of the latest materials and more imaginative construction techniques, they will continue to pork out.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz | 14 March 2006 at 03:03 PM