Automotive Design Trends to Expect in the Near Future

The automotive industry undergoes a continuous shifting process as technological advancement brings in new opportunities everyday

Being one of the most customer-centric industries, automotive manufacturers are strained to constantly evolve their product design and manufacturing processes to meet the ever-growing customer demands, without neglecting the environmental requirements.

A recent research from McKinsey on the future of global automotive industry suggests, that the global automotive industry is about to enter a period of wide-ranging and transformative change, as sales continue to shift and environmental regulations tighten.

Apart from sales perspectives, where exactly the present automotive industry is heading? What are the upcoming trends that the industry is about to bring to tackle the growing demands, that has long been helping to shape up the global economy and the way we live?

Despite numerous research and technological innovations that support the automotive sector, only few of them are viable enough to be applied at a mass level.

Technology Trends:

As major manufacturers like Volvo and Audi are testing their autonomous driving technologies, it is evident that this trend is likely to propagate further. However, Internet of Things is certainly one of the most buzzing technologies that most manufacturers and third party software developers are eyeing for today.

With IoT, the cars are expected to become smarter and safer; communicating with each other while in traffic and suggesting the driver an optimal speed and route to follow. Its use can be extended to information sharing for intelligent parking, traffic control, toll & fees collection as well as improve safety and emergency assistance. Manufacturers are already looking to develop a common open source platform to allow the IoT application for cars to flourish by collaborating with software developers globally.

Material Trends:

It is expected that the use of high speed steel is supposed to triple in 2020, as body strength, rigidity for safety & handling along with weight reduction remain key requirements for automotive manufacturers to meet the safety legislations.

Steel being light in weight is easier to manufacture and can be easily recycled. However, manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar has recently developed full aluminum body for their top range models to achieve weight reduction objectives.

Apart from conventional materials, use of composites is increasingly being adopted, with carbon fiber being at the top of the list. Despite its cost, carbon fiber offers significant strength against deformation while weighing 40% less than conventional materials.

Additionally, there’s a whole new discovery of intelligent materials such as shape memory polymers, which regain their original shape after being deformed. Self-healing materials having the ability to fill up the cracks or scratches are seen to be an excellent material for automotive paints

Manufacturing Trends:

One of the vital changes the automotive industry is about to witness is near future is in transforming the manufacturing processes. Adopting lean and agile techniques to cut down manufacturing costs, while also promoting product sustainability, will remain a prime objective for manufacturers.

With the utilization of computer-aided engineering tools, automotive manufacturing will be focused on downsizing, weight reduction and cost cutting. With the recent advancements in rapid prototyping, most automotive components are expected to be 3D printed.

It is evident from the trends that the automotive industry is about to see a profound change with a focus on improving the manufacturing capabilities, ramping up the technological features using IoT opportunities and adapting advanced intelligent materials.

The ever-growing demands from the customers in terms of performance, features and sustainability will force manufacturers to transform many of their product development techniques to shift towards rapid prototyping. Leveraging computer-aided engineering capabilities to bring innovation at the right instance will be crucial for auto makers to survive in tight competitive market scenario.