福特铝制秘密武器搅皱一池春水

    福特汽车公司（Ford Motor）今年夏天准备投产下一代F系列皮卡，车身材质从钢材变为了铝材。这个大胆的决定在业内引发了阵阵惊呼。

    这是一个很大的跨越。福特之所以决定这么做，是因为它看到了铝在提高燃油经济性上的作用，同时深信铝这种更多用于制造金属箔和啤酒罐、而不是皮卡的材料在经过加工后与钢媲美的强度。

    福特的铝材主要供应商是诺夫利斯公司（Novelis），这是一家位于亚特兰大的印度集团公司的子公司。也许让人放心的是，诺夫利斯公司的首席执行官恰好是福特前高管菲尔•马顿斯。他当初曾是福特集团负责产品开发的副总裁，皮卡也属于他的管辖范围。2005年，他离开了福特。

    由于对燃油经济性的监管日益严格，汽车将必须努力做到“三合一”。马顿斯在一次采访中说：“第一，轻量化。第二，先进的动力系统（引擎和传动系统）。三，保持产品品质。”政府对汽车制造商的要求是，到2025年，必须实现平均每加仑54.5英里的燃油消耗水平。

    诺夫利斯公司隶属于印度铝业公司（Hindalco Industries Ltd.），后者又是孟买跨国巨头埃迪亚贝拉集团（Aditya Birla Group）的子公司。

    马顿斯表示，在每辆皮卡车身所需的约900磅金属中，诺夫利斯公司将会提供约550磅铝，它们主要由纽约州奥斯威戈市的一家工厂制造。福特表示，转用铝后，整车重量将减少约700磅（约合317公斤）。

    他说：“还有其他技术水平不同的铝供应商。但我们是唯一一家能生产整车车身的公司。”

    马顿斯回忆说，他还在福特供职期间，公司为了展示的目的，特地生产了一辆铝制的福特金牛座（Taurus）。福特拥有豪车捷豹（Jaguar）那段时期，2003款XJ就是全铝制成的车型。而诺夫利斯公司生产的铝目前用于现款路虎揽胜（Range Rover）。

    钢铁企业自然对福特的这个决定很是不满。通用汽车公司（General Motors）和生产Ram皮卡的菲亚特克莱斯勒汽车公司（Fiat Chrysler Automobiles）则保持观望状态。如果全新的F系列皮卡大获成功，他们可能也会试着采用铝制车身。

    专为钢铁企业服务的研究机构钢铁市场发展研究所（The Steel Market Development Institute）断言，全新的轻量化、高强度钢在重量、强度和成本上完全可以和铝媲美。而铝行业的代表对此表示不敢苟同。

    马顿斯称：“我一直都说，钢和铝会继续并存下去。”而在福特公司内部另一位铝的潜在拥护者是首席执行官艾伦•穆拉利。穆拉利曾经是波音公司（Boeing）商用飞机的主管，十分熟悉铝材，也很适应。他在上个月举行的底特律车展上曾预言，铝材在汽车上的用量还会继续增长。

    马顿斯表示，他不知道穆拉利是否支持在新皮卡上采用新材料：“不过我很清楚大公司的运作方式，除非穆拉利带头推动这件事，否则这种事不会自然而然地发生。”

    心存怀疑的人可能会想起来这么一个事实，福特在现款F系列皮卡上用更省油的六缸涡轮增压引擎代替了体积更大马力也更强劲、同时也更重的V8引擎时，有人曾经怀疑消费者是否会买账。他们的确买账了。

    而福特全新皮卡的推出及消费者对它接受的情况将是今年汽车业最重大、也最受瞩目的事件之一。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    Ford Motor Co.'s gutsy decision to build its next-generation F-Series pickups, starting this summer, from aluminum instead of steel prompted whistles of amazement across the industry.

    The leap is a huge one, which Ford (F) is prepared to make because it sees the virtue in added fuel economy and believes aluminum -- better known for foil wrap and beer cans than pickups -- can be fabricated to be as tough as steel.

    Ford's lead aluminum supplier is Novelis, an Atlanta-based subsidiary of an Indian conglomerate. Resassuringly, perhaps, the CEO of Novelis is none other than former senior Ford executive, Phil Martens, the automaker's group vice president in charge of product development, which would have included pickup trucks. He left Ford in 2005.

    Due to increasingly stringent fuel economy regulations, vehicles will have to pull off a "triple play," Martens said in an interview: "One, lightweight. Two, advanced powertrain (engine and transmission) and three, maintaining product attributes." Automakers have been told they must achieve a 54.5 mile-per-gallon fleet average by 2025.

    Novelis belongs to Hindalco Industries Ltd., a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai.

    Martens said Novelis will supply roughly 550 pounds of aluminum per pickup truck out of about 900 pounds of the metal used for each truck body. It will come from a plant in Oswego, N.Y. Ford has said the switch from steel will save about 700 pounds in the overall weight of the vehicle.

    "There are other suppliers of aluminum with differing levels of competence," he said, "but we are the only one that has produced an entire body."

    Martens recalled that during his tenure at Ford the company built, for demonstration purposes, a Ford Taurus from aluminum. During the period when Ford owned luxury carmaker Jaguar, the 2003 XJ was built from the metal. Novelis aluminum is used in the current model Range Rover.

    Steelmakers, naturally, are none too happy about Ford's decision. General Motors (GM) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which builds the Ram pickup, are watching. If the new F-Series pickups are a smash, they may try aluminum bodies as well.

    The Steel Market Development Institute, a research group for steelmakers, asserts that new lightweight, high-strength steel matches aluminum in terms of weight, strength, and cost -- which aluminum industry representatives dispute.

    "I've said all along that steel and aluminum will continue to coexist," said Martens. Another presumed apostle of aluminum, inside Ford, is CEO Alan Mulally. In a previous job as head of Boeing's commercial aircraft, Mulally was quite familiar and comfortable with the metal. Mulally predicted at last month's auto show that automotive use of aluminum will grow.

    Martens said he didn't know whether Mulally championed the material innovation for the new pickup: "But I can tell you the way big companies work, and there's no way this wouldn't have happened unless Mulally played a big role in making it happen."

    Doubters may recall that when Ford promoted more fuel efficient, six-cylinder, turbocharged engines for the current F-Series pickup as an alternative to larger and more powerful -- and heavier -- V-8s there were questions whether consumers would buy. They did.

    The rollout and consumer reception to Ford's new trucks will be one of the big and most watched events for the automotive industry this year.