Through a decade of research, BMW is now able to use carbon fiber in mass production vehicles by greatly reducing production times.
Producing carbon fiber parts is traditionally very slow. The extra production time meant carbon fiber car components were much more expensive, but BMW will soon integrate the shimmering weave into mass-produced vehicles. For example, the i3 and i8 will both use carbon fiber extensively.
“Compared with initial industrial production of carbon-fibre M3 roofs, we have succeeded in lowering manufacturing costs for carbon-fibre body components by as much as 50 per cent”, said Harald Krueger, board member of the BMW Group to AutoCar.
“Our manufacturing concept for the M3 roof was the first to reduce production time to minutes and assure the necessary quality in series production. In the BMW i3, we were able to reduce production cycle times for carbon-fibre body components by a further 30 per cent.”
Previous reports also suggest that the brand is also planning to use the new 7 Series as an early adopter for mass-produced carbon fiber pieces.
[Source: AutoCar]
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