Mass reduction is not free, the chief economist for the Center for Automotive Research said of efforts to lightweight vehicles, also noting a wide disparity between industry and government cost estimates. Although various steel and auto engineers at the Great Designs in Steel seminar in Livonia suggested that advanced lightweight steels replacing traditional mild steels would cost some $939 to $1,115 per vehicle, Sean McAlinden said that reducing the weight of steel in a car to 720 pounds would cost $1,500, even though “the government believes it's under $200.”
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