Automotive Trucks information on net.

Here's a look at a study that was conducted by a committee of the American Iron and Steel Institute to determine whether steel could he used to create big, safe and light-weight sport utility vehicles and light trucks.

The UltraLight Steel Auto Body (ULSAB) project was launched in 1994 by an international consortium of sheet steel producers. One of the drivers for that program from the point of view of North American steel producers was the work initiated by the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), a U.S. auto industry and federal government initiative that has as its goal the development of a full-size vehicle that will get 80 mpg. Materials researchers within PNGV announced that they were concentrating on several materials to cut the weight of vehicles, including aluminum, magnesium, and titanium. They even noted that they were working on something called "Polymer X," a plastic material that could be molded and machined. Although they didn't count steel out, it seemed fairly evident that non-traditional - if not out-right exotic - materials were the subject of PNGV focus.

So ULSAB contracted Porsche Engineering Services, Inc. (Troy, MI), a North American unit of Porsche AG, to engineer a lighter vehicle. Through the use of holistic design practices (i.e., looking at components as parts of a larger system, not just as single-function pieces) and existing but not widely used processing technologies (e.g., hot forming, hydroforming, and the extensive use of tailor welded blanks), they created the engineering for a steel auto body that has 25% less mass and, importantly, a cost reduction of 14% compared with benchmarked four-door sedans.

In other words, the ULSAB group showed that auto makers could make a fuel-stingy but highly affordable automobile with steel. (Who knows what Polymer X would cost.) That was the result of the first of three phases, with Phase III, which is scheduled for 1998, involving the production, with an auto maker, of a production prototype ultralight steel car.

Trucks Are Hot. Can They Be Light?

So what has happened in the North American auto market since 1994? One thing that has really garnered a whole lot of attention on car lots is the pickup truck. In 1996, the top selling vehicle was the Ford F-series pickup. It was followed by the Chevrolet C/K pickup. And if people weren't buying trucks, they were in the market for sport utility vehicles (SUVs). The third best-selling vehicle in '96 was the Ford Explorer.

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