Generally, brands are using panels that are made of steel molds to make the cars. In this manner, the steel can help the mold bear much amount of pressings and otherwise required for producing car bodies on a large scale. However, the steel molds are a bit expensive.
Isuzu has used ceramic models for bodywork purposes in their production methods for cost-cutting. If we remind of 1998, then a single die could price to be more than a million at that time.
For bodywork, a die needs to be prepared for every model to form a car’s pressed metal panel. In this way, when different metal panels of a vehicle are installed together, it will create a car’s body. So the process could cost over $100 million at that time.
Why Isuzu need Ceraform?
Back in 1997-2001, Isuzu has introduced its compact SUV known as VehiCROSS. The car was first unveiled like a concept vehicle at the Tokyo International Auto Show in 1993. In 1997, this off-road machine’s Japanese production was released with bit changes in the original design. An interesting fact of their production is that they have used inexpensive ceramic dies for body-stamping. Additionally, they had reused the readily available parts of Isuzu.
Isuzu is not sure about using the standard method for body-stamping to sell enough units to justify every steel mold’s upfront costs. Their main aim is to make a two-door SUV economically with a challenging styling called Vehicross. They had taken the help of ceramics experts of Meadan to use a process known as Ceraform.
It is a process to build original mold other than only one steel piece by merely using a liquid slurry. But the use of ceramic molds affects the mass-production directly. The reason is that a single model made by using the composite liquid is having less hardness. It can bear only tens of thousands of presses than metal’s hundreds of thousands required for mass production.
So putting it simply, Isuzu’s ceramic molds were not that much more vital to handle a full-scale production. However, they helped the company to meet the demands of enough production of Vehicrosses. Hence, their product planners have predicted well about its future needs. It helped the company to cut the overhead production costs.
Final Thoughts
No doubt, the future of the automobile market is electric cars. However, at present, they are out of budget for many car lovers. Today many of them are build using skateboard-like platforms. According to this, similar mechanicals are used to make different kinds of body-styles.
Brands should consider options such as ceramic dies or any other cheaper body-stamping methods. It can car makers them like what Isuzu had used to lower the cost needed for designing and producing their models.
These are some ways by which we could get the chance to see some striking and exciting designs in future automobiles like that of Vehicross. What do you think? Could it be a great approach to see electric cars at a much budgetary price for the buyers?
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