The past two years have seen rapid developments in automotive lightweighting efforts with the eagerly anticipated release of the BMW I Series, Mercedes S-Class, Lamborghini Aventator, McLaren P1 and the 420kg weight reduction of the Range Rover to name a few. With Aluminium and Carbon Fibre emerging as what seem to be the front runners in achieving lightweight results in luxury brands, it is still unclear which material combination will dominate the mass market.

Despite the above ground-breaking achievements in key areas, OEMs are still searching to develop strategies and technical solutions for cost-effectively integrating lightweight materials into multi-material vehicles and securing lightweight materials and components on a global platform.

As OEMs begin to reveal their material strategies and expand beyond their domestic markets, the need to secure global material and tier 1 supplier capability has never been more important.

This year, the internationally renowned Global Automotive Lightweight Materials (GALM) Initiative returns to London with the mission of Supporting the delivery of aggressive lightweighting by securing the global supply base for aluminium, magnesium, high strength steel and compositesIntegrating joining and forming technologies for multi-material manufacturing to enable commercially feasible, high volume, lightweight vehicle manufacturing on a global platform.