GM has partnered with Teijen to bring the widespread use of carbon fiber to every day cars. As many of you know, carbon fiber is a strong, lightweight, composite material used in everything from body panels, to frames, and trim work. It’s typically been reserved for high end sports cars, super cars, and luxury vehicles. However, we have seen it start to trickle down slowly into other less expensive cars. GM is hoping that their new partnership with Teijen, who provides carbon fiber for many high end car builders, will bring the use of carbon fiber to every day production cars.
Carbon fiber’s strength and light weight properties are sure to be a handy tool in improving fuel economy in everything from pick up trucks to economy cars. Teijen not only brings experience to the table, but also a recent breakthrough technology in which a thermoplastic component is used instead of the traditional resin. This significantly decreases cure time to under a minute. This will allow for the mass production of parts, which will in turn bring down the cost.