One word: plastics. That’s where the future lies for automotive glazing. Like the line from The Graduate, there’s a great future in plastics as a replacement for glass, especially as pressure ratchets up on fuel economy standards.

Hyundai and GE Plastics demonstrated the new automotive possibilities for plastics back in 2007 with the Hyundai QarmaQ, and emerging markets are key to the continued rise of polycarbonates. If a Chinese or Indian automaker buys into plastic instead of glass on a large scale, it might spur the rest of the auto industry to make the switch, Venkatakrish Umamaheswaran, director of automotive products and marketing for Sabic Innovative Plastics, tells Ward’s Automotive.

Sabic is short for Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, which bought up GE Plastics. GE Plastics and Bayer MaterialScience had previously formed Exatec, a subsidiary to develop polycarbonates for automotive use. Polycarbonate glazing is lighter, which saves fuel right off the bat. Heating and cooling loads can also be reduced by applying UV-blockers to the plastic, which reportedly saves as much fuel as the material’s lighter weight. The biggest barrier? Cost.

Sabic hopes that it can deliver increased value to manufacturers to make its glass-replacement technology more attractive. One of the biggest advantages of polycarbonate windows is that they’re injection molded, making possible all sorts of shapes that are not feasible in glass. To deliver more bang for the buck, a supplier could provide a manufacturer with an assembled module that includes not only the window, but also trim, lighting, handles and even badging.

It’s not here yet, though. Umamaheswaran admits that while Sabic has been getting larger projects, no high-volume operations are underway. If expectations hold out, however, that should change by 2015.

Will lightweight plastic car windows shatter the glass market in China or India? originally appeared on Autoblog 5.0 on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In addition to officially debuting the M3 pickup here in Munich, BMW trotted out a lightweight version of the M3 sedan before its debut at the M Festival at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring race later this year.

BMW is mum on the exact details on this stripped-out sedan, only saying that it’s designed to slot in between the standard model and the race-ready GTS coupe. Output should remain close to the standard 420 horsepower, but the brakes, suspension and exhaust will be tweaked for maximum performance. There’s no word on how many pounds the M division stripped from the sedan and U.S. availability, but we should have all the details when the big ‘Ring race happens this June. And no, this isn’t an April Fools joke.

BMW bringing lightweight M3 sedan to Nürburgring M Festival originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know we already ran an eBay Find of the Day, but since you couldn’t actually drive that one, we thought it only fair to bring you another. File this one under “D” for “Don’t see that every day.” For a Buy It Now price of ,000, you can lay your loving mitts on a genuine 1995 BMW M3 CSL Lightweight. According to the seller, the vehicle has never been raced or abused, and the photos make the factory-built racer look like a slice of cherry pie. There are a scant 36,619 miles on the clock, and the ad makes it clear that this particular example needs nothing but a driver behind the wheel. A driver with a flush bank account, that is.

If you’re wondering why we’ve gone all drooling ape over this car, you should probably know that this is one of the rarer M3 models out there. The seller notes that there were just 100 of these particular racers imported to the States, each with weight-adding bits like the spare tire sent to the dumpster in an attempt to keep weight as low as possible. Reports vary as to exactly how many pounds BMW managed to shed from the standard car, but estimates say that the models hit the scales at around 200-300 lbs less than their regular counterparts. Throw in even stiff springs and a host of go-fast parts that were user-installable for a little extra track dominance and you’ve got the beast you see above.

Did we mention this sucker is street legal? Head over to eBay Motors for a closer look. Thanks for the tip, Sid!

[Source: eBay Motors]

eBay Find of the Day: 1995 BMW M3 CSL Lightweight is ultra rare, ultra tasty originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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