Novelis, along with Constellium, announced the creation of Alumobility, a new non-profit organization focused on providing innovative, implementation-ready solutions that will advance the adoption of aluminum automotive body sheet.

Alumobility represents a commitment of collaboration to further advance the technical capabilities of automotive aluminum body sheet in order to compete with other materials in next-generation vehicle design.

“Alumobility is a collaboration of organizations to enthusiastically innovate and demonstrate the advantages of aluminum auto body sheet in vehicle applications,” said Pierre Labat, President of Alumobility and Vice President, Global Automotive at Novelis. “Our global ecosystem approach is focused on action and leverages the best minds in our industry to support OEMs and deliver aluminum-enabled mobility.”

Alumobility will include additional member companies with downstream expertise, such as joining and forming, as well as other specialized manufacturing processes that actively contribute to increasing the adoption of aluminum auto body sheet.

An executive director for the organization will be named in the coming weeks.

Guthrie celebrated a major milestone when the facility shipped its first production coils. This accomplishment beats their revised timeline, which took into account downtime stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s humbling to know that a plant full of talented people, a local community full hopeful people, and a company full of accountable people placed their trust in us to deliver,” says Paul Banks, Guthrie’s Plant Manager. “The best part is watching our people grow and seeing our people continue to grow our culture.”

These coils were hot rolled and cold rolled in Oswego. They received their final anneal and were pretreated in Guthrie. This milestone was made possible by these teams’ hard work, determination, agility, and commitment to delivering quality products. Guthrie expects to ship its first production coils to BMW in March of 2021.

The new 2018 Jeep® Wrangler now features lightweight, high-strength Novelis aluminum for closures. This includes parts of the doors, fenders, swing gate and windshield surround. By reducing weight and boosting fuel economy, aluminum helps make it the most capable and fuel efficient Wrangler ever produced by FCA US LLC. The all-new model is 200 pounds lighter than the previous steel version, and gas mileage is expected to rise by three miles per gallon, according to the automaker.

By incorporating aluminum into this design, FCA US joins a number of automakers that are turning to aluminum for the benefits they see in vehicle performance, agility and safety. Thanks in part to lightweight aluminum from Novelis, Jeep enthusiasts will also find it easier to remove the doors, which will be 14 pounds lighter compared to previous models.

According to Trucks.com, Scott Tallon, director of the Jeep brand, said, “It couldn’t have been done without the use of aluminum.”Offering a safe, sustainable and cost-effective way to lightweight vehicles, automotive aluminum applications result in better performance and agility, increased fuel economy and reduced carbon emissions. Demand for automotive aluminum is expected to rise according to the 2017 Ducker Worldwide survey that projects aluminum content in North American passenger vehicles, particularly light trucks and SUVs, will increase 42 percent from its 2015 level by the year 2028.

Novelis is a partner of choice to automakers throughout their development journey to collaborate with OEMs on how to adopt aluminum and offer solutions that achieve their lightweighting goals. Today, more than 200 different vehicle models feature Novelis aluminum.

Today, we announced our first major commitment in the electric vehicle market through a supplier agreement with NIO, a next-generation car company.

Through a long-term partnership, NIO will leverage the unique properties of our high strength, lightweight aluminum alloys to design a lighter, better performing, & more fuel-efficient vehicle. Over the next five years, NIO will launch electric SUV models using Novelis’ automotive aluminum solutions.

Leveraging our global reach, NIO will draw supply from our Changzhou plant—China’s first facility dedicated to heat-treated automotive sheet. Enabling a local supply source will be key to expediting NIO’s production schedule at a time when automakers face mounting pressure in China to increase electric vehicle production. As aluminum becomes increasingly integrated into autonomous and electric vehicle designs, our partnership with NIO will showcase the state-of-the-art benefits of automotive aluminum.

NIO and Novelis are pushing the limits of what is possible with electric vehicles from both a performance and design standpoint. This innovative partnership demonstrates that Novelis is more than just a material supplier, we are collaborators and problem solvers working closely with design teams to help ensure vehicles are built to maximize the unique attributes of aluminum and meet the mobility demands of the future.

Novelis’ expertise and experience working with world-class automakers make it the best choice for NIO and the right choice for the electric vehicle market.