Mazda likes to save lots of weight wherever it will probably. Its flagship sports activities automotive, the MX-5 Miata, weighs beneath 2,400 kilos because of a method of shaving off the grams wherever potential. Eventually, extra elementary adjustments need to occur although, and it appears the Japanese automaker is wanting into new supplies for a potential upcoming product. 

A patent granted to the automaker just some days in the past goes into element in regards to the strategies and processes it will use to construct such a car. It doesn’t describe a particular automotive past the truth that it’ll have four doors. Sadly, this does not seem like a sports activities automotive if the automaker decides to supply it. Based on the included artwork, it might be a sedan.

Patent artwork is not at all times consultant of a possible product, however the textual content of the doc does describe 4 doorways.

Mazda is probably going wanting into this know-how to shed weight within the period of electrification. Other patents printed just lately by the automaker point out it is laborious at work creating more hybrids and full EVs, each of that are sometimes heavier than pure ICE automobiles. One strategy to combat this additional mass is by eradicating it from the next-heaviest a part of the automotive after the drivetrain, the physique and chassis. 

The automaker appears notably serious about crossing carbon fiber laminations in several instructions to create what it calls a “quasi-isotropic” materials, aka one that’s robust in each route load is utilized to it. It not solely defines how it will create this materials but in addition lays out a number of profiles it will use for various elements of the automotive. The roof-supporting pillars, body rails, and crash bumpers are all proven to have completely different cross-sections.

With carbon weaves in several instructions, Mazda hopes to create a composite that is robust in a number of axes.

Based on the authorized particulars of the doc, Mazda is not going to be alone in growing this chassis. The patent was assigned to each the Japanese automaker in addition to the Nippon Steel Chemical & Material Co., Ltd. In different phrases, it is working with a associate who has expertise growing carbon fiber buildings. 

Needless to say, we do not know when or if a carbon-chassis Mazda will ever hit the streets, nevertheless it’s at all times fascinating to search out out what an enthusiast-focused automaker like Mazda is researching behind the scenes. It might be at some point quickly that Mazda sells a hybrid or electrical sedan that, because of a carbon body, is significantly lighter than its competitors. We’ll simply have to attend and see.