Today, many cars contain significant amounts of aluminium, as designers have become increasingly aware of the metal’s demonstrated advantages. With 1 kg of aluminium replacing up to 2 kg of steel and cast iron in many application areas, the reduction in vehicle weight is substantial. The less the vehicle weighs, the less fuel is consumed and the less harmful emissions are released into the atmosphere.

With car manufacturers such as Jaguar, BMW, Audi and Ford increasing the use of aluminium in car engineering and design, the benefits to the customer and to the environment are notable.

More than 20% of the cars produced in Europe have an aluminium hood and several high-performance sports car bodies, such as Ferrari and Lotus, are also produced in aluminium.

In the last 50 years, additional aluminium content has been the result of replacing cast iron (engine blocks and transmission housings), mild steel (car bodies and wheels), and copper (radiators). While historically aluminium has been used in automobiles primarily in the form of castings, in recent years automotive engineers have increasingly applied the wide variety of aluminium product forms such as extrusions, stamped sheet parts and forgings in chassis and suspension, crash management and other structural applications.