Toronto, Ontario — August 9, 2017 — The use of aluminum in vehicles is expected to grow immensely over the next three years, according to a report prepared by research firm Ducker Worldwide. According to the report, aluminum car doors will show up on 25 percent of the North American fleet by 2020. In 2015, aluminum doors were found on less than 5 percent of vehicles.
Further, Ducker Worldwide estimates that a whopping 71 percent of hoods will be aluminum by 2020, up 50 percent higher than 2015. The consulting firm expects that by 2025, 80 percent of the hood will be aluminum. On top of that, it anticipates that bumper beams will jump from 33 percent aluminum in 2015 to 54 percent in 2020.
John Huetter, writing for our US-based content partner, Repairer Driven News, noted that, “It will be imperative for a shop to have dedicated aluminum tools, space and equipment as well as aluminum-trained techs by 2020. All these will be needed if the shop wants to fix both those latest-model cars—but also to repair the smaller concentration of aluminum on the 2015 vehicles which will make up a large percentage of one’s repair orders that year.”
“Aluminum remains the fastest growing automotive material over competing materials and is entering its most unprecedented growth phase since we’ve been tracking the shifting mix of automotive materials,” commented Ducker Automotive and Materials Director Abey Abraham. “To further improve fuel economy, battery range,safety and overall driving performance, automakers no longer default to a single material and instead are pursuing a multi-material design approach where the best material is chosen for the best application. This design evolution is what’s driving aluminum’s increased market penetration in the auto sector.”
