The question for car groups is whether there will be a breakthrough moment for carbon fibre similar to last year’s use of aluminium body panels on Ford’s best-selling F150 pickup truck (above), which reduced the F150’s weight 13 per cent
With its aggressive looks, the 170mph Cadillac ATS-VR racing car stood out from the crowd at last month’s Detroit auto show — not least because of the long wing stretching across the vehicle’s rear.
This wing is made from carbon fibre: a strong and light material that is also very expensive, meaning that its use has so far been confined to high-end, low-volume vehicles. Yet there were signs at Detroit of a change in the motor industry’s attitude to the esoteric material, with US manufacturers led by General Motors and Ford seeking to turn carbon fibre into a building block for mass-market cars.