Success Is Clear

Auto makers are waiting to see which OEM will take another shot at large-scale production of plastic exteriors.

The auto industry has had an on-again, off-again love affair with plastic body panels for decades, from Henry Ford's interest in the 1930s to General Motors Corp.'s high-volume Saturn cars and BMW AG's low-volume Z-1 roadster.

Right now, the fervor has cooled somewhat, holding up wider use of plastic panels, fenders and other exterior components, says Ian Paterson, a member of the executive committee of Bayer MaterialScience LLC.

The Scottish-born executive also is a member of the board of management of Bayer MaterialScience AG, heading up marketing and innovation activities. He adds auto designers lack familiarity with plastics that can be substituted for steel.

The plastics industry needs to give a new generation of designers confidence to use its materials. “Designers are not used to dealing with plastics,” Paterson says.

Auto makers are five to 10 years away from wholesale replacement of metal panels with plastic, he says, largely because plastics suppliers won't have materials for another decade with the same dimensional stability as metals to produce the proper panel fits.

Critics say the wide door-panel gaps required for the expansion of thermoplastic body panels on previous-generation Saturn models hurt the brand's appeal.

Paterson says Bayer currently sells E1.8 billion ($2.5 billion) worth of plastics to the global auto industry: 50% in Europe; 30% in North America, and 20% in the Asia/Pacific region. That represents 18% of the company's business, its biggest segment. North America sales are $4.1 billion annually.

“We expect more growth in Asia/Pacific, particularly in China and India,” Paterson says. Much of that is driven by the increasing sales of vehicles in that region.

Bayer says most of the growth will be in small A, B and C platforms. The expanding low-end vehicle niche is an opportunity for Bayer and other plastics suppliers to further pursue modularity and piece-count reduction. This could result in significant cost savings for the region's vehicle manufacturers.

“We're investing €340 million ($469 million) annually in research and development to develop future markets,” says Gregory Babe, president and CEO of Bayer MaterialScience. He is responsible for the Bayer Group's North American market.

Bayer's customers increasingly are interested in green cars, Babe says. Last spring, Bayer collaborated with Rinspeed Inc., a unit of the Swiss automotive tuning house, to produce the futuristic eXasis concept car constructed of transparent Makrolon polycarbonate plastic.

The eXasis debuted at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show.

European auto makers seem more willing to use plastic fenders. For instance, Bayer supplies Bayflex 190 polyurethane for the Volkswagen AG Touareg cross/utility vehicle's fender, but Detroit's Big Three have no current applications for the material.

Bayer hopes to win additional OEM customers for Bayflex 190, but the traditional U.S. auto makers have not reversed their position regarding the use of thermoplastics or thermosets for fenders, says Paul Platte, Bayer's director of industry innovation.

He's hopeful, however, that Detroit will see the light. “As the need for weight reduction increases in North America, renewed interest in plastic fenders will evolve,” he says.

The 13 sq.-ft. (1.2 sq.-m) polycarbonate roof on the Smart Fortwo is the largest roof module ever made of Bayer's Makrolon AG2677. It's an example of how plastic can replace tempered glass in vehicle roofs.

Already on sale in Europe, the Fortwo will debut in the U.S. next year. The roof module, made by Webasto AG, weighs 40% less than a comparable glass part.

GM's Opel Zafira multipurpose vehicle also has a glass roof module, with Bayer's Baydur polyurethane as a substrate supporting a thermoplastic roof, wiring assemblies, motorized skylight shades and five storage compartments.