When something new rolls off the line at any of the various automotive plants in the world the rest of the industry watches with bated breath to see what is going to happen and what the reaction will be. From the first turbocharged engine to the various aerodynamics that are built on many of the different vehicles there is always something that can and will be copied by others when something new is offered as the leading technology for the industry.
The newest and most impressive change has already taken place in the fact Ford has offered its F-150 with aluminum body panels, structural build and engine casting. This change showed us a truck that was more powerful from smaller engines all because the lighter aluminum and lightweight steel made a huge difference in the amount of weight the engine had to pull around. Not only are these new Fords more powerful but they are more fuel efficient than before make a true win-win situation for the automaker which has sold more pickups than any other for many years. With this new build and the continued success you can be sure others noticed and decided to act.
The announcement has been made that GM is turning to the same materials and has already started by investing $877 million to change the Flint, Michigan factory and build their pickups and SUVs with aluminum and lightweight steel as the basis for their platforms. This change over requires a new assembly line, body welding shop, paint operations and more in order to have the plant fully ready to produce trucks and SUVs with a lighter build using these innovative materials that will give us from GM the same benefits we already have experienced from Ford.
As with any next step in an innovation, GM will make this changeover without taking down their factory for six months, which is what Ford did in order to produce the lighter F-150s. Although GM has bashed Ford in ads recently there will be much less of a memory of that when the new GM products arrive in 2018 with their own unique implementation of aluminum and lightweight steel. The plan is to have this built applied to the Silverado pickups (which should mean the Sierras as well), the Tahoe and even the Cadillac Escalade to offer more power from smaller engines because the vehicle will be decidedly lower in weight.
The future of the automotive industry is in building lighter vehicles out of materials that greatly reduce the weight. this allows the vehicle to make better use of the horsepower offered and enjoy more fuel efficiency as well. It really should not come as a surprise that GM has chosen this path; the real story will be when we see what the trucks and SUVs look like from a performance standpoint in 2018. It’s very likely GM will have advanced this build and technology in a “one upsmaship” way to give Ford something to take back and build on themselves.
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