Fehrer: Lightweight
roof for the new
smart
Kitzingen/Germany, December 16, 2014. The
automotive supplier Fehrer has developed a new
lightweight roof in a sandwich-type design for the new
smart fortwo. The component is currently the lightest
roof construction for passenger cars on the market.
The newly developed component from Fehrer Composite
Components is made from a material mix consisting of
polyurethane, glass fiber and paper honeycomb, covered
with a thermoplastic outer skin. The standard version of the
smart fortwo is equipped with this roof, which equates to
around 40 percent of all models. It is around 30 percent
lighter than the standard roof in the predecessor model –
but is equally strong.
This is achieved by means of an intelligent combination of
decorative foil, structural PUR fiber-composite layers and a
core honeycomb structure in a sandwich-type design. In
contrast to standard composite components, this
construction does not involve the individual layers being
bonded in a complex, multi-stage process, but is produced
instead in a single workstep. This means that the component
can be produced considerably more efficiently.
The lightweight roof for the smart sees Fehrer, the vehicle
interior specialist, supplying an exterior vehicle body
component for the first time. The component is produced at
the Fehrer plant in Großlangheim and supplied directly to the
smart production plant in Hambach, where it is mounted on
the vehicles. The new smart fortwo has been available since
November.
Fehrer Group:
The Fehrer Group is one of the world’s leading specialists for
vehicle
interior components. The company’s customers
include renowned automotive manufacturers such as BMW,
Daimler and the VW Group.
Fehrer currently has around 4,000 employees at 11 locations
in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the US and
China. Its annual revenue for 2014 will reach approx.
EUR 480 million. Fehrer also operates in India and South
Africa via joint ventures. Since October 2014, the company
is part of the AUNDE Group.
www.fehrer.com
AUNDE Group:
Established in 1899 as Achter und Ebels, the company
started specialising in the development and manufacture of
upholstery and innovative fabrics for the automotive industry
in as early as 1920.
As the automotive industry started to become more and
more
globalised,
internationalisation
Achter
und
strategy
in
Ebels
1982,
launched
its
signalling
the
company’s transformation from an individual company into
the AUNDE Group.
The
AUNDE
Group,
which
comprises
the
AUNDE,
ISRINGHAUSEN and FEHRER brands, ranks among the
world’s
leading
premium
manufacturers
of
automotive
textiles/leather, vehicle seats and technical springs for the
automotive
industry.
The international
group
has
108
production sites in 27 countries and a workforce of 18,000.
www.aunde.com
Press contact:
Sebastian Glaser
möller pr
Tel.: +49 221 80 10 87-80
e-mail: [email protected]