ThyssenKrupp AG, the German corporation has just presented the results of its new research project called InCar Plus. This project consists of engineers from the Essen based company, who have collectively created 40 new products for the automotive industry. The products include components and solutions which are aimed at component weight reduction up to 50 percent and cost reductions up to 20 percent. These solutions and components not only aim to make vehicles lighter and cheaper, but also to save the environment by reducing the CO2 emissions up to 8 grams per kilometer. This directly translates reduction of 1.6 tonnes of CO2 per vehicle, keeping in mind the lifecycle of an average car.
A total of 100 engineers from businesses in Steel Europe have collaborated to drive the project forward. Dr. Karsten Kroos, CEO of the Components Technology business area said, “As development cycles for new models become ever shorter, every month counts. The production readiness of our solutions gives our customers an important edge in terms of time and cost.”
ThyssenKrupp CEO Dr. Heinrich Hiesinger emphasizes the importance of the auto industry for the Group with the ideology that their business with the automotive industry accounts for a quarter of their sales, almost ten billion euros. And the mobility sector will continue to grow in the long term. With InCar Plus, the ThyssenKrupp Group is once again focusing on establishing their presence as a partner to the automotive industry by providing lightweight, sustainable, cheap and high performance components for the body, chassis, steering and powertrain.
The lifecycle of the components have been analysed and the benefits go farand wide in terms of sustainability. InCar innovations not only provide transparency in terms of emissions during driving, but also over the entire life cycle of the products – including extraction of raw materials to use of the products to recycling. While these parts are going to be soon presented to automotive manufacturers in Europe, Asia and the Americas, the first production order for an InCar Plus innovation has already been received by the Group.