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Automotive aluminum use has been growing for years (from an average 87 pounds per car in 1976 to 145 pounds in 1987), mainly to cut weight and raise fuel economy. Each pound of aluminum used can reduce vehicle weight as much as 2.25 pounds. Auto frames and bodies can make further use of aluminum's unique combination of strength, light weight, crash-energy absorption, and resistance to heat, cold, and environmental corrosion.

As new car prices increase (they doubled between 1978 and 1983), durability and corrosion resistance take on new importance. Buyers want vehicles that will retain their appearance and keep a high resale value. And that's something aluminum can provide, as auto makers offer longer warranties against component failure and body rust-out.

Unlike steel, aluminum - even unpainted and uncoated - resists corrosion by water and road salt; its use can avoid the substantial extra costs of galvanizing, coating and painting steel. And aluminum doesn't mst if paint is scratched or chipped. Nor is it weakened or embrittled, as some plastics may be, by desert heat, northern cold, or the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. For its new delivery vans, the U.S. Postal Service specified aluminum bodies designed to last 24 years!

Finally, when a car must be scrapped aluminum is readily recycled, providing both economic and environmental benefits.

Aluminum, with its wide choice of alloys and tempers, offers high quality and a wealth of advantages to automotive engineers developing the creative new car designs of the future.