Weber's charge at DCX: Reduce vehicle weight

DaimlerChrysler's Thomas Weber: Vehicles are getting heavier and larger.

QUESTION & ANSWER

Harald Hamprecht | | Automotive News / February 12, 2007 - 1:00 am
STUTTGART -- Thomas Weber, DaimlerChrysler's board member in charge of group r&d, discussed the challenge of weight reduction, development cycles and possible synergies between Mercedes and the Chrysler group with Automobilwoche Staff Reporter Harald Hamprecht. Automobilwoche, like Automotive News, is published by Crain Communications Inc.

What do you see as your greatest challenges for 2007?

The issue of sustainable mobility is one of the greatest tasks. We want to configure the entire drivetrain more efficiently, improve energy management and press ahead on alternative powertrains in our joint hybrid project with General Motors and BMW, as well as in our fuel cell alliance with Ballard and Ford. It's also our goal to arrest the growth in weight that occurred over the last few years and move to weight reduction in the middle term, despite the increasing requirements in safety, comfort and driving dynamics. Untying this Gordian knot is a great challenge.

How much has vehicle weight grown?

In the auto industry, the weight in the various segments has grown between one-half of 1 percent and 1 percent per year. And the growth in vehicle length from one model generation to another is between 5 and 10 centimeters (or 2 to 4 inches), just from people getting bigger. We want to arrest this trend and, in the process, contribute to further reductions in fuel consumption.

How do you deal with this weight?

With intelligent, lightweight construction. For example, we are using new, ultrahigh-performance steels in highly stressed structural parts and aluminum at locations that are under less strain. Meanwhile, we fight for every gram. In addition, we are placing more value than ever on intelligent assembly processes. The new C class is the first Mercedes-Benz model where we stopped the trend of steadily increasing weight from generation to generation. The body shell for the latest generation is 8 kilos (about 18 pounds) lighter than its predecessor. The empty weight of the base model stayed the same, at 1,485 kilos (about 3,272 pounds).

How have you changed the organization to deal with this issue?

In late 2006 we formed project teams devoted to lightweight construction. This year, the project is being implemented in development across the board. Every parts designer is being given precise goals for weight reduction of his component and module.

How long does it take you to develop a car for volume production?

At about 30 months from design freeze to Job 1, we are now on a par with our main competitors. We are going to stick to that, just as we'll stick to the average life cycle of six to seven years. It's not our goal to become the world champion at quick development. We would rather give customers what they rightly expect: top quality. So we'll continue to invest in the quality of our employees.

How can Mercedes-Benz benefit from cooperation with Chrysler?

We are going to continually increase the number of shared basic components. It doesn't bother the customer if we share locks or seat frames. But there won't be common platforms.

Porsche recently hired 100 engineers away from you. The former S-class developer was one of them. Are you worried about the loss of expertise?

A total of 100 out of almost 10,000 engineers is 1 percent. The fact that an exchange of talent is occurring in major concentrations of the auto industry is normal. Incidentally, this also occurs at suppliers. It is even more pronounced in Munich and Detroit than it is in the Stuttgart area. So I am not worried about this competition.