Advanced Steel Technologies Featured on Car and Truck Award Winners
01/16/2012 - The 2012 North American Car and Truck of the Year—the Hyundai Elantra and Range Rover Evoque—both feature advanced high-strength steel technologies, the Steel Market Development Institute noted. The winners were announced recently at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The 2012 North American Car and Truck of the Year—the Hyundai Elantra and Range Rover Evoque—both feature advanced high-strength steel technologies, the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) noted. The winners were announced recently at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The Elantra's widespread use of advanced steel grades provides increased body stiffness at a lower body weight allowing the suspension to work optimally, according to SMDI. At 2701 lbs, the car’s weight-efficient steel unibody architecture helps to enable an estimated 40 mpg EPA highway rating.
The Evoque incorporates advanced high-strength steel in key load-bearing areas. Safety and weight-saving technologies can be found throughout its bodyshell and chassis, including a steel monocoque frame that is reinforced with ultrahigh-strength boron steel and supplemented by impact beams in all passenger doors. Further, ultrahigh-strength boron steel in the A- and B-pillars enables the Evoque to achieve a slim profile without compromising strength or safety.
"The 2012 North American Car and Truck of the Year award winners clearly demonstrate that steel is the automotive material of the future," said Ron Krupitzer, Vice President, Automotive Applications for SMDI. "The winning vehicles are excellent examples of how advanced steel grades are the right choice in developing safe, fuel efficient, and sustainable vehicles that meet both customer preferences and industry requirements. With the steel industry continuing to develop even higher-strength grades and lightweighting process methods, steel will continue to help carmakers meet aggressive safety, design, and performance targets for years to come."
According to the North American Car and Truck of the Year Organizing Committee, the winning vehicles were judged and selected by a jury of 50 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada who represent magazines, television, radio, newspapers and websites. The awards are designed to recognize the most outstanding new vehicles of the year.
The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute, grows and maintains the use of steel through strategies that promote cost-effective solutions in the automotive, construction, and container markets, as well as for new growth opportunities in emerging steel markets.
