General Motors is seriously considering aluminum bodies for its future vehicles and has actually invested close to $800 million in three Michigan plants to make the plan a reality.
“The new prototype plant in Warren will be able to handle both aluminum and steel bodies and also bodies made of blended steel and aluminum components,” Cathy Clegg, GM vice president of North American manufacturing, told The Detroit Bureau.
Following the examples set by Audi, Jaguar, and obviously Ford with the all-new 2015 F-150, GM wants to rely heavily on lightweight materials in an effort to meet increasingly stringent fuel economy standards. The automaker has only just begun using aluminum and carbon fibre to produce auto parts.
However, since aluminum is a lot more expensive than steel, several industry analysts predict that we'll only see aluminum bodies on GM's more luxurious models and pickups like the Chevrolet Silverado, at least initially.