The reduction of fuel consumption of vehicles is currently required because of controlling greenhouse gas emissions concerning the issue of global warming. In the developed countries, the regulations for the fuel consumption or the emissions become strict, thus the trend to control greenhouse gas emissions in Japan, Europe, North America is summarized. Car manufacturers are making significant efforts to reduce the weight of their cars, because it is one of the important ways for the reduction of a vehicle's fuel consumption. It is required also for driving performance. The use of aluminum alloys for automobile parts has increased in order to save weight of vehicles, especially since COP3 (adoption of Kyoto Protocol) of 1997. In Japan, the add-on parts made of aluminum, mainly on the luxury cars, sports cars and eco-friendly cars, have been also increasing since the late 1990s. The current trends of automobile body aluminization, for example add-on parts (engine hoods, front fenders, doors, back doors, trunk lids, tail gates on pickup trucks), body structure parts and suspension members are reviewed. Additionally the advanced application technologies for it, for example good hem-bendability 6000 series alloy sheets, superplastic forming, Friction Stir Welding and recycling technology, are introduced.
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