[vinair]

Over the past few decades, plastics used in the automotive industry has evolved to such great extent that its no more a cheap stuff but a advanced material that has created a niche for itself.

Found this material on the internet that talks about how manufacturers have been using plastic over the years in the manufacturing of cars and if you notice the newer models on ours roads, its pretty clear on how much of plastics goes into the body panels and how the steel in our cars are shrinking...

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e2d...af974bd65c.pdf

[abhishek46]

Interesting read.
I was expecting the proportion to be slightly higher. It's just 10-15% now reading from the report.

I wonder which category would carbon-fibre panels and chassis structures used in sports cars would fall into. They are certainly not 'metallic'.

[TorqueTwist]

Nice topic to ponder upon. The XUV’s front fenders are completely made up of plastic material. I was in for a surprise when I first came to know about it. Presume XUV was the first Indian manufactured car to use plastic panels as its body shell (Front Fenders).

[ObsessedByFIAT]

The Plastic to Metal ratio has surely risen in the new age cars.

Last year one of my friends had met with an accident. When we got the quote from Insurance company is when we realized, majority of the parts needing replacement were plastic! Details can be seen on the following thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post4035956

[GTO]

Lighter & cheaper in most applications. We're going to be seeing this percentage only increase with time as more equipment & tougher safety / emission norms are making cars heavier & heavier. Manufacturers will keep looking for ways to save weight.

Originally Posted by TorqueTwist

Presume XUV was the first Indian manufactured car to use plastic panels as its body shell (Front Fenders).

The first would be the Sipani cars. Of course, the XUV500 would be the first popular car to use plastic panels.

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

Last year one of my friends had met with an accident.

You bring up an interesting point. Plastic is more expensive for the owner as it has a higher rate of depreciation. As an example, if an 18 month old car meets with an accident, the depreciation on metal parts will be just 10%. Whereas for plastic, it'll be 50%. One more reason to opt for the zero-depreciation policies .

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by GTO

You bring up an interesting point. Plastic is more expensive for the owner as it has a higher rate of depreciation. As an example, if an 18 month old car meets with an accident, the depreciation on metal parts will be just 10%. Whereas for plastic, it'll be 50%. One more reason to opt for the zero-depreciation policies .

A few years ago, a friend of mine crashed his 3 year old X5 without no depreciation insurance. The bill - he had to pay Rs 9 lakhs of the Rs 20 lakh bill