From McLaren To Maruti, Why Manufacturers Are Slimming Their Cars Down

Basic physics tells us - heavier the car, the more fuel it drinks and more power it needs. That's true for everything from supercars to hatchbacks. British supercar manufacturer McLaren now wants to address this problem by making its upcoming supercars lighter.

Of course, this is by no means a new issue being targeted by McLaren. A new purpose, however, has emerged for the company to make its cars even lighter than they are at present. McLaren wants to introduce its hybrid engine in its upcoming vehicles.

The brand has confirmed its plans to introduce hybrid models by 2025. This would mean introducing an electric motor as well as a battery system in its upcoming cars. Since these are added weights than at present, McLaren will be slimming down and reducing weights of its cars by using new and innovative lightweight materials and manufacturing composites such as carbon-fibre.

A thing to note here is that McLaren is working on reducing the vehicle mass in order to increase their performance. Confirming the same, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt said ¡°Vehicle mass is the enemy of performance whether a car has a conventional internal combustion engine or a fully electrified powertrain, so winning the weight race is an absolute priority for us.¡±

(Representative Image: Reuters)

Other Benefits

On the other hand there are small, budget passenger vehicles that are also trying to slim down. The reason for this, however, is completely different. While McLaren wants to build on performance in the era of hybrid engines, those like Maruti are aiming to increase the fuel efficiency on their cars.

In its latest iteration, Maruti Suzuki Swift sees a considerable weight reduction from its outgoing model. The reduced weight directly higher fuel economy on both the diesel as well as the petrol options.

There is an even starker contrast when you compare the Swift to its counterparts by other OEMs. For instance, Swift is around 40 kg lighter than the new Hyundai Grand i10 Nios and is up to 80 kg lighter than the Tata Tiago. In fact, even the weight of the extended Dzire is less than that of the two competitors.

Note that the lighter than competition bodies of cars does not guarantee a better mileage. While that metric also depends on the engine make, it is only natural to increase a particular engine¡¯s mileage than itself by reducing the weight it has to propel forward.

Another advantage of a lighter make is of course, the reduction in material required and hence savings on every unit of the vehicle. While this cannot be said for the top-end vehicle, which usually switch to lighter and costlier material (like carbon fibre) to make the body lighter, passenger cars do this by simply reducing the material being used in the car.