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AHSS Featured on North American Car and Truck of the Year
01/15/2010 - AISI's Steel Market Development Institute is celebrating the selection of the Ford Fusion hybrid and Ford Transit Connect as the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year, respectively. Both vehicles feature advanced high-strength steel technologies.
AISI's Steel Market Development Institute is celebrating the selection of the Ford Fusion hybrid and Ford Transit Connect as the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year, respectively, because they both feature a number of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) technologies.
The Ford Fusion hybrid features a high-strength steel body structure for added side and frontal impact protection and tailor-welded B-pillars between the front and rear doorframes. The Fusion body contains 55% high-strength steel.
The Ford Transit Connect includes steel wheels, a high-strength steel front crossmember, a high-strength steel reinforced body shell, and twin-side crossmembers and side-impact protection.
"Ford's innovative use of carefully selected lightweight, high-strength steel grades in the Fusion Hybrid and Transit Connect confirms that steel is the material of choice when it comes to fuel efficiency, strength, durability, cost, and design," said Ron Krupitzer, Vice President of Automotive Applications for AISI's Steel Market Development Institute. "Both vehicles earn top fuel-efficiency marks in their class and feature clean, unique designs at an affordable price, making them ideal for consumers."
The awards—judged and given by 49 veteran automotive journalists in the United States and Canada who represent magazines, television, radio, newspapers, and websites—are designed to recognize the most outstanding vehicles of the year based on factors that include innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction, and value for the dollar.
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and through its business unit, Steel Market Development Institute, conducts research with its member companies in partnership with its customers to advance the use of steel in the marketplace. The Automotive Applications Council is a part of AISI's Steel Market Development Institute. The council focuses on advancing the use of steel in the highly competitive automotive market.
Automotive Applications Council investors are:
- AK Steel Corp.
- ArcelorMittal Dofasco
- ArcelorMittal USA
- Nucor Corp.
- Severstal North America
- United States Steel Corp.
