Originally Posted by stapfam
Motor business in the UK has disapeared- except for a few small manufacturers. Fibre Glass and CF is a lot lighter than steel. But have you ever Pushed a volvo into a wall. The main structure of the car will still be fine but the car can be written off with cost of repairing it. Main structure is still steel- but all the bumpers and wings are Fibre glass for Lightness- or possibly CF for the cost of them. One of my neighbours has just had his 3 year old Volvo hit and the cost of repairing it made it a write off.
I have been in the parts supply for Vehicles for 30 years now, and I am glad that I am now on trucks. Still made out of steel and still repairable economically. (Except that even trucks are getting more Plastic put on them for lightness- but not many vehicles argue with trucks)
You are right with your observations but IMHO not your prediction where it will be going.
I will make you a bet that in less than 20 years we will have very light cars with servo motors powered by fuel cells. Yes, they will be smashed up at high speed but there will be less mass in motion.
I also predict that there will be more CF bikes than anything else.