Carmakers, their suppliers, and those equipping the automotive industry, represent a decisive economic factor in Germany. Significant changes to the entire concept of mobility are ultimately being driven by global trends, such as dwindling natural resources, an increasing need for mobility, urbanization and megacities. In addition, German carmakers and their suppliers are facing increasingly tough competition as the trend towards low-cost vehicles takes hold.
The Fraunhofer Alliance pools the expertise of 18 institutes, who collectively provide the German automotive industry with a competent single-source partner for its research and development needs. The complementary effect achieved by combining the individual institutes' key areas of research, makes it possible to generate rapid, integrated and sustainable innovations along the entire process chain of vehicle manufacturing – from the planning stage right through to the finished vehicle. The Alliance tackles the challenges posed by environmental policies (reducing fuel consumption and CO2; electromobility; cutting material consumption) while taking full account of commercial imperatives (ongoing pressure to cut costs).

Key tasks performed by the Alliance:

• Consistent use of virtualization, and simulation of the entire process chain

• Reduction in the amount of required materials (use of recyclable materials with long-term availability)

• Use of innovative technologies that save resources;

• Low-energy plant technologies