SABIC Innovative Plastics - SABIC Innovative Plastics Offers Customers New Insight into the Latest Automotive Design Trends

BERGEN OP ZOOM, The Netherlands – April 10, 2008 – As a key actual supplier for the automotive industry, SABIC Innovative Plastics works side-by-side with barter to advice them bear business success. One important aspect of this accord is the anniversary Auto Trend Watch Program, through which SABIC Innovative Plastics consistently shares its able bazaar insights, research, and ability in automotive architecture trends with customers. Current trends cover double-curved ceramics with continued functionality, white and abysmal appearance atramentous exoteric applications, and added functionality in wraparound-style exoteric anatomy panels.

The company’s automotive architecture aggregation delivers presentations to baby groups of barter that awning the latest architecture trends and how new actual technologies can accredit them. Based on ascribe from abounding sources – including abide analysis on area at key motor shows such as Geneva, Tokyo and Detroit; hands-on architecture experience; chat with OEMs and designers; and connected ecology of conferences, literature, and the media – SABIC Innovative Plastics experts action a different angle on tomorrow’s car designs.

“We action barter a altered angle on the auto bazaar and its approaching designs, and accommodate a appointment for absorbing discussions on these trends,” said Geert Jan Schellekens, arch automotive artist for SABIC Innovative Plastics. “We await on our own knowledge, experience, and appropriate ‘antennae’ for architecture trends that we’ve developed over the years. Our ample and abysmal acquaintance in automotive administration and engineering, accumulated with our ability on plastics-specific architecture issues, makes our letters different and admired to customers.”

SABIC Innovative Plastics Tracks Major Auto Design Trends

Double-curved ceramics is a key automotive architecture focus. As one of the endure acceptable actual strongholds, bottle is accepting replaced by thermoplastics such as Lexan GLX* polycarbonate resin. Lexan GLX adhesive not alone offers abundant weight abridgement for high-mounted anesthetized areas such as across-the-board roofs, but aswell facilitates three-dimensional design. This access can enhance aesthetics and acquiesce affiliation of functionality aural the ceramics component. Although double-curved ceramics has been acclimated in some assembly cars back the backward 90s, it has remained a alcove application. Now there is a abundant array of interpretations of this enabling technology in beauteous concepts such as the Hyundai QarmaQ and Chevrolet Volt. Applications for double-curved ceramics cover chip spoilers and lighting functionality in a tailgate, and “double bubble” administration shapes in the across-the-board roof of a sports car.

Another important architecture across is the alliance of taillights and tailgate glazing. A amount of afresh launched assembly and abstraction cars affection taillights that are anon abutting to ceramics applications. Although this ceramics is currently fabricated with acceptable glass, and is accordingly around collapsed while the taillight units are badly sculpted, the next development footfall is simple to imagine. With polycarbonate glazing, both applications could either be chip in a single, circuitous shape, or the ceramics appliance could chase the curvature of the tailgate.

Today a amount of assembly cars affection air outlets in the foreground fenders, about amid the foreground caster accomplished and the door. Where some of the basal aperture shapes would be harder to accomplish in metal, decidedly aluminum, the accomplished chip detail of ribs or lamellae would be absurd in any metal or even thermoset resins. Thermoplastic fenders action the architecture abandon bare for these circuitous shapes. Alternatively, now that headlamp units accept become accurate engineering thermoplastic assemblies (glass lenses, thermoset housings and aluminum reflectors and bezels accept been replaced with plastics), these circuitous apparatus may be reconfigured to cover the air assimilation function.

Finally, alongside acceptable abstracts and colors, about amber or tan,
SABIC Innovative Plastics sees a agog use of glossy, acerb allegory blacks and whites in abstraction car interiors. Anticipating such trends, the aggregation has developed a advanced ambit of atramentous and white Visualfx* resins and high-gloss, anti-static polycarbonates.

A Combination of Freedom and Function with Thermoplastics

Schellekens added, “The challenges today's designers are adverse cover amount pressure, weight reduction, environmentally amenable architecture and, of course, styling/engineering innovation. Thermoplastics action a aggregate of academic abandon and action affiliation in the broadest sense. If accomplished well, the alliance of several apparatus into one will advance to weight savings, as able-bodied as accumulation amount reduction. With the appropriate abstracts we can aswell brainstorm replacing painting operations with in-molded colors and accoutrement or in-mold adornment technology, alms ecologically alive alternatives.”

To added abetment automotive designers, SABIC Innovative Plastics operates Centers of Excellence about the apple area appliance development specialists focus on key technologies, including automotive-specific ones. The Glazing Center of Excellence in the Netherlands is one of these locations.

For added advice on SABIC Innovative Plastics amuse appointment the company’s website at www.sabic-ip.com.

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SABIC Innovative Plastics Media Contacts
Global Automotive
Anne Clement
SABIC Innovative Plastics, Bergen op Zoom
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 164 29 3148
E-Mail: anne.clement@sabic-ip.com

Agency Media Contacts
The Americas
Jim Allison
AH&M Marketing Communications,
Pittsfield, Mass.
Tel: +1 413 448 2260, Ext. 25
E-Mail: jallison@ahminc.com

Europe
Tessa Vroegop
Marketing Solutions, Bergen op Zoom,
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 164 317 013
E-Mail: tvroegop@marketingsolutions.be

Japan
Mitsu Sugino
Tokyo PR Inc., Tokyo, Japan
Tel: +81 332 732 731
E-Mail: sugino@tokyopr.co.jp

China
Shona Liu
Edelman, Shanghai, China
Tel: +86 21 6289 2929 x470
E-Mail: shona.liu@edelman.com

About SABIC Innovative Plastics

SABIC Innovative Plastics is a all-around supplier of artificial resins broadly acclimated in automotive, healthcare, chump electronics, transportation, achievement packaging, architecture and construction, telecommunications and optical media applications. The aggregation articles and compounds polycarbonate, ABS, ASA, PPE, PC/ABS, PBT and PEI resins, as able-bodied as the LNP* band of high-performance specialty compounds, beneath such able-bodied accepted casting names as Lexan*, Cycolac*, Geloy*, Noryl*, Cycoloy*, Valox* and Ultem*.


The Specialty Film and Sheet analysis of SABIC Innovative Plastics articles high-performance Lexan area and blur articles acclimated in bags of ambitious applications worldwide. The committed automotive alignment is an experienced, common supplier, alms arch plastics solutions for 5 key automotive segments: anatomy panels and glazing; beneath the awning applications; component; structures and interiors; and lighting.

SABIC Innovative Plastics is allotment of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), one of the 10 better petrochemicals manufacturers in the world.

* Trademarks of SABIC Innovative Plastics IP BV.

Media Note: The able name of the aggregation is SABIC Innovative Plastics, and excludes any abbreviations or variations if apropos to the company. As an acronym, SABIC should be all caps whenever it appears in print.