Collaboration Is Needed For Steel To Evolve

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- As the Auto/Steel Partnership enters its 30th year, there have been ample opportunities for the organization to look back at the various competitors steel has faced over the years.

When the partnership was first getting started, there was a lot of discussion around the consistency of material properties, John Catterall, executive director of the Auto/Steel partnership, said at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars here.

At the time, one of the most discussed threats to steel was plastics.

The reason? The infamous Pontiac Fiero.

"The Fiero had just come out, and I actually remember, I was at Austin Rover in England, and we brought a Fiero in and everybody was like 'this is going to be the future,'" said Catterall. "It's going to be these steelspace frame vehicles with basically plastic panels on the outside. Well,we know how that turned out."

Indeed, the Fiero, General Motors' first vehicle to use a composite plastic body panels hung on a steel spaceframe, was discontinued after just five model years.

And while the plastic body panels lived on in other GM products such as the so-called Dustbuster minivans, which were comprised of the Pontiac Trans Sport, Oldsmobile Silhouette and Chevrolet Lumina APV, as well as the Saturn brand, the automaker ultimately abandoned the use of polymer body panels on its Saturn lineup in the early 2000s.

Steel, on the other hand, has evolved, Catterall noted.

"There's more than 200 different grades available for sheet use in the automotive car body," Catterall said."15 years ago, there was half of that, so it's really progressed in the last 15 years."

Additionally, advanced high-strength steel is now on its third generation and is getting closer to being implemented into vehicles.

The reason for this quick innovation of steel is simple.

Automakers need materials that reduce weight and improve fuel economy as tighter regulations loom, as well as meeting performance requirements and keeping costs low.

But, as with many other areas within the automotive industry, collaboration is key for the parties involved to be satisfied.

"We need the collaboration between steel and the auto industry to basically get them [materials] into the vehicles as quickly as we can, the most efficiently," Catterall said.

In addition to GM, members of the Auto/Steel partnership include Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, as well as AK Steel.