WCA March 2012

General Motors has a more immediate incentive to succeed with carbon fibre. CEO Dan Akerson has said that reducing vehicle weight is essential if GM is to meet tough new federal rules intended to boost mileage, cut emissions, and hasten the next generation of fuel-conserving hybrids and electric cars. The standards, announced in April 2010, call for a 35.5 miles-per-gallon average within six years, up nearly 10 mpg from today’s average. According to the Detroit News , Teijin plans to open a technical centre “in the northern part of the United States” ❖ Sales of the GM Chevrolet Cruze – the best-selling compact car in the US last summer – weakened in the fall as Toyota and Honda recovered from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan and got back into the market. Another factor was the typical slowdown in compact car sales in fall and winter. On 12 th December the automotive reporter of the Cleveland Plain Dealer , Robert Schoenberger, wrote that GM was again shutting down its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant – this time because a parts supplier had fallen behind on orders. The open-ended shutdown was preceded by two down weeks at the plant as GM cut back on production to prevent a buildup in inventories of unsold Cruze models. Notes on automotive . . . ❖ On 6 th December it was reported in the Detroit Free Pres s that Toyota was to begin exporting Kentucky-made Camrys to South Korea beginning in January, at an annual rate of about 6,000 units. As noted by business writer Greg Gardner, while this is the first time Toyota will be exporting Camrys from the US, the Japanese auto maker began shipping its Sienna minivan, assembled in Princeton, Indiana, to South Korea in November. The Camry, built at Toyota’s 7,000-worker assembly plant in Georgetown and at the Subaru of Indiana plant in LaFayette, also in Kentucky, has been the best-selling car in the US for 13 of the last 14 years. Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, has said that Toyota might shift production from Japan to the US because the yen has been so strong against the dollar that it costs the company less to produce certain vehicles in the US. With annual growth of above 30 per cent recently, the Chinese automobile market is rapidly outpacing that of the US as the world’s most lucrative and strategically important. In 2010 the Chinese bought an estimated 13.8 million passenger vehicles, well above the 11.6 million units sold in the United States. In the same year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, foreign-origin brands – most of which are manufactured in China through joint ventures – accounted for 64 per cent of total Chinese sales. early this year to support its work with GM. Other news of General Motors . . .

And We Energies has also turned to it for fabrication of large air ducts, the construction of a generating station, and the installation of emission systems at two power plants. Merrill’s president Roger Hinner told the Wausau (Wisconsin) Daily Herald (31 st December): “As the country continues to clean up the old coal-fired plants, in terms of emissions, it generates a lot of work for us.” ❖ Another business whose expanding prospects suggest a revitalised Midwest is Steel Plate Akron, a four-year-old Ohio company which buys raw steel from domestic and international mills and cuts it into plates for shipment to customers nationwide. The distributor has 45 employees and an annual payroll of $2.5 million. “We are 100 per cent out of space here [in Talmadge],” Steel Plate Akron vice president Ray Kenney told the Massillon (Ohio) Independent , in reference to his search for a plant with 80,000 to 120,000 square feet of floor space – double or triple the size of the current facility. “We run 24 hours, seven days a week, and we still don’t have enough space. We need a much larger place.” General Motors takes a Japanese partner to help advance its push for carbon fibre components in mainstream vehicles Aiming for greater fuel efficiency in its cars and trucks, Detroit’s General Motors Co is teaming up with Osaka-based Teijin Limited to co-develop advanced carbon fibre composite technology. Teijin has developed a proprietary process that GM says allows mass production of carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic components in less than a minute. Significantly faster than conventional approaches, it holds promise for higher volumes at lower cost. Bryce G Hoffman of the Detroit News pointed out that the Teijin technology has already found high-end niche uses. Rival supercar manufacturers Pagani (Italian) and Bugatti (French) are using carbon fibre (ten times stronger than steel but only a quarter of the weight) in sports cars built for speeds in excess of 250 miles per hour. But, difficult to mass-produce, it has been too expensive for mainstream use. Now, however, Mr Hoffman wrote: “GM is trying to change that.” (“GM partners with Japanese Firm in Developing Steel Alternative,” 11 th December). Officials of the US auto maker and its Japanese partner are more than enthusiastic over the prospects for carbon fibre. Steve Girsky, vice chairman of GM, said that the technology has potential to be “an industry game-changer.” The senior managing director of Teijin spelled out what this might mean. In Norio Kamei’s view, his company’s “visionary relationship with GM” will lead the way to increased usage of “green” composites in the automotive industry. Automotive

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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2012