WCA July 2013

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44 Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2013
Steel
US Steel chief asserts the current and
future supremacy of “an incredibly green
material” for automotive uses
“It didn’t happen then. It will not happen now.”
Speaking in April at an Automotive Press Association
luncheon in Detroit, John Surma, the CEO of US Steel
(Pittsburgh), pointed to a magazine article from 50 years
back claiming that steel would eventually make up a
smaller portion of a vehicle’s mass because lighter-weight
materials will replace it. Not so, Mr Surma declared. (“Steel
Will Remain Dominant in Auto: US Steel CEO,” Detroit Free
Press, 12 th April).
Clearly, reports of steel’s demise as a major automotive
material are greatly exaggerated. According to the Steel
Market Development Institute, steel makes up about 60
per cent of the weight of an average vehicle. Steel is less
expensive than aluminium and other alternatives, and the
industry has developed a lighter-weight, high-strength steel
that can help automakers boost fuel economy and reduce
mass.
Even so, Mr Surma is probably not taking the supremacy
of automotive steel for granted. Automakers are using
lighter-weight materials such as aluminium and magnesium
to improve mileage and meet the US government’s
Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) goal of 54.5 miles
per gallon by 2025. As noted by Free Press business writer
Nathan Bomey, the rule of thumb is that fuel economy rises
by at least 3 to 4 per cent when vehicle mass is reduced by
10 per cent. That presents a threat to steel.
For certain high-end and performance cars, wrote Mr
Bomey, the cost of aluminium is not prohibitive. General
Motors built the frame of its 2014 Corvette Stingray with
aluminium, making the sports car 99 pounds lighter and 57
per cent “stiffer” than the previous model. The automaker
also recently introduced a technology designed to improve
the aluminium welding process, which has historically
posed difficulties on the factory floor.
❖ But the advance of the lightweights has been uneven.
Industry observers have speculated that Ford is trying
to convert the F-150 series into an aluminium body.
However, Mr Bomey reported, the Atlas concept pickup
unveiled by Ford at the Detroit auto show in January had
no more aluminium than the current F-150. A Ducker
Worldwide study cited by Mr Bomey projected that US
automakers would incorporate 375 additional pounds of
aluminium into the average vehicle by 2016. The study,
funded by the European Aluminium Association, also
found that aluminium would represent 16 per cent of a
vehicle’s weight by 2025, about double today’s level.
❖ For his part, Mr Surma pointed out that several new
vehicles, including the Cadillac ATS and Ford Fusion,
use high-strength steel. He told reporters in Detroit
in April: “Now as an industry we are continuing our
research on the third generation of high-strength steels.
Additionally, Mr Surma’s brief for automotive steel
sounded a very contemporary note: environmental
responsibility. “Steel is an incredibly green material,” he
said. “[It] can be recycled continuously without affecting
its key performance attributes.”
Elsewhere in steel . . .
❖ The American Iron and Steel Institute has said it expects
the energy sector to be a strong source of steel demand
in the US over the next ten years. Among the data cited
by the AISI:
❖ Nuclear projects use 40 metric tons (mt) of steel per
megawatt (MW) of installed capacity. Some 5,500MW of
new nuclear capacity now under construction in the US
is expected to come online between 2015 and 2018
❖ If wind power projects expand enough to meet the
stated goal of six per cent of the US energy supply by
2020, they could demand up to 13 million short tons (st)
of steel
❖ To enable the nation to obtain 20 per cent of its energy
from wind by 2030, the US Department of Energy
recently highlighted the need for more electrical
transmission lines. Some 1,000 feet of a common type
of transmission wire contains 270 pounds of steel
❖ The average high-voltage transmission tower includes
about 40,000-60,000 pounds of steel.
Automotive
Detroit’s ‘Big Three’ seize the opportunity
presented by a new Chinese preference
for larger cars
“The models wore traditional cheongsam dresses and
medieval Chinese armour . . . but the many midsize cars
and sport utility vehicles on display made it look almost like
an American auto show.”
Keith Bradsher, the Hong Kong bureau chief of the New York
Times , was in China for Auto Shanghai – the 15th annual
edition of the show that from 21st to 29th April put 1,300
vehicles on display in 17 halls, and hosted no fewer than
111 global debuts. “An absolute monster,” declared Motor
Trend Magazine : but the Times’s Mr Bradsher had no trouble
discerning the message in the sprawl. The Chinese market,
the world’s largest since 2009, is awash in large vehicles.
Despite punitive taxes of as much as 40 per cent on
models with large engine displacements (more than four
litres), there has been a pronounced shift on the part of
China’s consumers away from fuel-sipping compacts and
subcompacts toward larger cars. In March, SUV sales in
China were 49 per cent up from the same month of 2012
as new models poured into the market. Moreover, many
exhibitors at Shanghai highlighted their luxury cars, a tacit
acknowledgment of the rising affluence of the upper middle
class and the wealthy in China. (“Chinese Auto Buyers Grow
Hungry for Larger Cars,” 21st April).