Bodywork construction

The majority of modern cars have a self-supporting body.

The body consists of several hundred different preformed sheet metal parts, sheet metal hollow bodies and shells. On modern bodies today, up to 230 different types of steel are used with material thicknesses between 0.8 and three millimetres. In addition to different sheet thicknesses, a variety of steel alloys are used. Nowadays, we distinguish between normal, toughened, high-strength and ultra high-strength steel. This allows the expenditure on materials and therefore the car weight to be reduced.

Attachments such as doors, bonnets, wings or hatchbacks are bolted to the body. Custom-made components, so-called “tailored blanks”, ensure lower material costs with the same stability. In addition to the lower weight, which has a positive effect on fuel consumption, they also offer the advantage of easier installation and increased stability.