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Volkswagen has developed a Golf with a bodyshell that’s 30 per cent lighter than a standard five-door Golf’s.

The culmination of a four-year programme involving four other car makers and 32 suppliers, the results of the SuperlightCar project will be applied to production cars from 2012 onwards.

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The body-in-white is still made mostly from steel, but i...Read the full article

 Both new Polo and Ibiza are already lighter when compared to their predecessors.

 instead of making cars that cost an extra 5 euros/kg to save weight, why dont they make a car for the current financial climate and make weight savings that pay money instead of cost.

a 20kg saving could make a supermini 100 euros more expensive alternatively it could be 1000 euros cheaper if it meant not fitting an aircon system to superminis as standard. the planning is in the car makers interests and not the customers, all this means is that customers will be paying/borrowing even more money for new cars than before!

outrageous.

car makers have learnt nothing from the credit crunch while being rescued from bankrupcy by our money...

 

Saving 40% off a 250kg bodyshell is fine but it doesn't address the rest of the weight bloat that all modern cars have suffered over the last twenty years. Aircon, bigger wheels, bigger brakes, better stereos, power steering, airbags, catalytic convertors, comfier seats, more soundproofing, electric windows, central locking, electric mirrors, satnav etc etc - they all add weight. The current Golf GTi is exactly twice as powerful as the Mk 1 but it's also exactly twice as heavy. Lightening the body shell is admirable but it really is little more than rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic in the face of legislation and consumer demand.

 

All true. Except I would be surprised if it is twice as heavy. From memory the first GTI was around 820 kg. The real problem will be convincing buyers that they don't necessarily need all the stuff you mention. And guess what - buyer that are clamouring for more affordable cars are not willing to forgo all of the comforts. It's been tried before and it has failed before...

It doesn't sound like much, but it's a start I suppose...

If you think these are Superlight wait for the even newer materials!!! out later this year!!

jelly7961:

All true. Except I would be surprised if it is twice as heavy. From memory the first GTI was around 820 kg. The real problem will be convincing buyers that they don't necessarily need all the stuff you mention. And guess what - buyer that are clamouring for more affordable cars are not willing to forgo all of the comforts. It's been tried before and it has failed before...

 

The doubling is weight is depressingly true - all up with a driver a Mk1 weighs about 900kg, the current GTi about 1,800kg. 

As you say, unless consumers are willing to forgo the luxuries they have come to regard as standard it's a losing battle. My first car was a 1979 Ford Escort and it didn't even have an adjustable back rest to the seat. Or carpets. Or a stereo. I loved that car though.

freudianskip:

The doubling is weight is depressingly true - all up with a driver a Mk1 weighs about 900kg, the current GTi about 1,800kg.

According to the excellent AUTOCAR data the Mk V Golf GTI comes in at 1336kg.

 

 Then someone has lied to me. Balls.

I'm no engineering expert but even though carbon fibre lends itself better to low volume applications I'd have thought than if enough manufacturers used it the costs would come down significantly

Audi Tastic:

I'm no engineering expert but even though carbon fibre lends itself better to low volume applications I'd have thought than if enough manufacturers used it the costs would come down significantly

 

well it turns out that carbon fibre is the opposite it lends itself to mass production, in small quantities its stupidly expensive. the investment is needed in the tooling, from there its cheaper than steel making. which is why Tata wish to make a new car made of carbon fibre and hybrid materials and will be sold for less than a standard steel supermini.