Innovative and efficient: How suppliers want to help VW out of the crisis

Innovations at low cost and high quality - if Volkswagen has its way, suppliers should make the impossible possible. "It won't work without you," said VW Board Member for Purchasing Dirk Große-Loheide at the International Suppliers Fair IZB in Wolfsburg. This is because VW does not manufacture 60 to 70 percent of the parts for a car itself, but buys them in from suppliers. For other car manufacturers, the figure is as high as 80 percent.

However, VW must reduce costs if the manufacturer wants to hold its own against competitors from China or the e-car pioneer Tesla. At the same time, however, innovations are needed because the new competitors are also catching up technologically - or have already overtaken them, such as Tesla in vehicle software or BYD from China in traction batteries. So VW regularly invites visitors to Wolfsburg for the IZB, the largest exhibition of its kind in the world.

Many of the 843 exhibitors from 33 nations vying for VW orders in Wolfsburg are involved in the cost and innovation competition. For example, in body production: Tesla has shown how billions can be saved in production with its Gigacasting. Instead of welding the underbody and load-bearing parts of the car together from dozens of pressed sheet metal parts, Tesla casts them from aluminum in one piece. The front and rear end as well as the battery container in the middle each come from a large injection molding plant and replace the old sheet metal puzzle.

An idea that Volkswagen not only wants to copy, but also improve: "Casting large vehicle parts in one piece is a good thing. We will do that too," announced VW brand boss Thomas Schäfer during the traditional VIP tour. However, Vokwagen wants to eliminate the disadvantages of gigacasting, as such cast parts are difficult to repair and do not behave optimally in the event of an accident: instead of absorbing the impact energy, they transfer the shock to the interior. "We can fix that. And the parts can also be repaired," says Schäfer. As was heard on the fringes of the IZB, the VW ID2, the Polo-sized electric car, will already have cast large parts, for example for the battery housing.

Bad news for traditional sheet metal processors such as the Spanish company Gestamp? Ulf Sudowe, responsible for chassis production at Gestamp, doesn't think so. "Gigastamping instead of gigacasting" is his answer to the challenge of producing car bodies more cost-effectively in future: "We can form twelve to 16 parts in one step," says Sudowe. This would allow the vehicle side panel or door frame to be produced in one piece. This would reduce costs and save energy and weight. The pressed large parts are weight and crash-optimized. They are also easy to recycle, says Sudowe, because: "You should already know your scrap."

Another advantage: "Car manufacturers can continue to use their machines." With gigacasting, the presses have to be replaced by huge injection molding machines, which means high investments. Gestamp manufactures car body parts in 115 plants worldwide, eleven of which are in China. The Chinese are very interested in the topic.

Korean automotive supplier Hyundai Mobis also brought along a few ideas on how to save costs in the car of the future without sacrificing innovation. It has identified the flood of screens as a cost driver: "Installing two or three screens, or one large one, can cost well over 100 euros," says Managing Director Axel Maschka. Instead, Hyundai Mobis has teamed up with German optics specialist Zeiss to develop a system that uses the lower part of the windshield as a screen. The next generation of head-up displays can not only show important driving and navigation data, but also play movies or set up video conferences in front of the passenger - across the entire width of the windshield.

Cubos Technologies specializes in bidirectional charging. With Solar-Link, the electric car can be used to store electricity from existing photovoltaic systems. When the sun is shining, the car is charged. In the dark or in the event of a power cut, the car battery can then supply the house with electricity.

The American supplier Gentex has also developed an innovation for the interior. The sun visors from the glass and mirror specialist are made of dimmable glass. This means that they do not obscure the driver's entire view of oncoming traffic or traffic signs, for example. The continuously dimmable glass nevertheless protects against glare from the sun or reflections. "The brighter LED lights of modern cars dazzle oncoming traffic more than conventional headlights. And who hasn't been dazzled by the low sun? Avoiding this without restricting the driver's view too much is a real benefit for safety," says Gentex Head of Marketing Craig Piersma. As a special highlight, the glass sun visor transforms into a vanity mirror at the touch of a button. An innovation that is sure to quickly find its way into series production. (aum)