Ever since chemists invented carbon fiber half a century ago, automakers have been eager to use the stiff, durable, ultra-light -- but expensive -- material as a substitute for steel.
The economics are finally looking favorable for cars, not just rockets, airplanes and tennis rackets.
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG has been studying the feasibility of equipping one of its car models with 200 pounds of carbon components, including several major body parts, which would reduce the vehicle's weight by 363kg.
If BMW goes ahead with the project, slated tentatively for 2005, more manufacturers could be tempted to match the German automaker with their own premium models.
Carbon fiber's cost has dropped more than 90 percent over the past three decades to US$8 a pound or less compared to about US$0.15 a pound for steel, making it increasingly attractive to designers and engineers.
Many race-car bodies are built with carbon fiber. Now a number of cars available to consumers, like the new Dodge Viper and Nissan 350Z, come with a few carbon fiber components. The 350Z's carbon fiber drive shaft, for example, weighs 8kg, compared with a steel shaft that would have weighed 14kg.
Large weight reduction means vehicle models could be far more fuel efficient or powerful than conventional, heavier competitors. The question is whether the extra cost can be recovered by premium pricing, which might be justified by fuel savings or stellar performance.
Presumably BMW intends to increase the power-to-weight ratio, which improves speed and acceleration rather than fuel economy, though the automaker isn't elaborating or providing details about its project.
"With many of these high fuel-consumption cars, it's always appeared that this would be the next logical step," said David Carlson of the Concord, New Hampshire, money management firm of DL Carlson Investments.
Carlson said he had heard that BMW has conducted crash tests of prototypes to test how carbon fiber will behave in an accident and whether it can pass regulatory muster. If his report is correct -- the automaker isn't saying -- it suggests BMW indeed is serious about proceeding with volume production.
DL Carlson, with US$340 million of assets, owns 246,700 shares or 1.5 percent of Zoltek Cos Inc, a St. Louis, Missouri-based maker of carbon fiber. On Feb. 15, 2001, Zoltek announced a partnership with BMW to develop ``lightweight but superstrong car bodies, panels and other parts'' of carbon fiber.
At the time of the announcement BMW project leader Torsten Flemming said the automaker "could go into production with carbon fiber car bodies within five years."
Zoltek, one of about half a dozen companies worldwide that manufactures the material, is to benefit if BMW goes ahead with full production.
"Our goal is to get the cost down to US$3.50 a pound," said Zsolt Rumy, 60, chief executive. "With enough volume, we can get there."
Zoltek stock has provided a wild ride for Rumy, who owns 35 percent of the company, as well as for other shareholders. From a low of US$1.16 per share in early 1993 the stock rose to almost US$66 a share in the fall of 1997, before collapsing the following year.
In early April 2002, shares more than doubled to about US$5 from about US$2 following a company announcement that it was introducing a new carbon fiber fabric at a trade show.
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