VW Golf shaves weight with help from Faurecia
Reprints
Print
Respond
Faurecia plays an important role in Volkswagen's 100kg weight reduction for the seventh-generation Golf compared with the previous generation of the car. The French supplier provides the new Golf's seat recliners, manual height adjusters, foam fill and cushions. Without being more specific on which parts underwent the biggest weight reductions, VW says it shed up to 7kg from the seats in the new Golf.
Faurecia says that the seats offer enhanced lateral support because it adapted the shape of the foam fill to occupant body type and optimized the suspension properties of padded components.
Faurecia also provides the new Golf with acoustic interior parts, door panels and the painted front bumpers. The Volkswagen Group is Faurecia's largest customer worldwide, accounting for nearly 26 percent of sales in the first half of 2012.
The Golf, which first debuted in 1974, is the Volkswagen brand's best-selling model. The latest version of the compact was launched at the Paris auto show in last month. Production of the car started at VW's Wolfsburg plant in August. Output is expected to peak in 2013 at slightly under 469,000 units, according to IHS Automotive forecasts.
