GE Plastics partners with Hyundai on concept car, attracts suitors
Canadian Plastics
Canadian PlasticsGE Plastics and Hyundai Motor Co. presented the collaborative QarmaQ concept car at the 77th Geneva International M...
GE Plastics and Hyundai Motor Co. presented the collaborative QarmaQ concept car at the 77th Geneva International Motor Show last week. The QarmaQ, a first in the crossover coupe segment, was engineered in close cooperation with the plastics firm.
The car is lighter, stronger and more fuel efficient than any other crossover utility vehicle (CUV) in its class, and integrates about 30 new technologies that will be incorporated in Hyundai’s forthcoming lineups. The concept is almost completely recyclable, and also makes innovative use of GE’s commercially available resin products.
“GE Plastics is committed to developing greener, lighter and aesthetically pleasing solutions to support our customers in creating vehicles with reduced environmental impact,” said GE Plastics automotive vice president and general manager Gregory Adams. “We are delighted to have collaborated with Hyundai and we believe that working together we helped them develop an exciting new CUV that demonstrates greater environmental responsibility as well as improved safety, dramatic design and high performance.”
The traditional car design of a lower body with a glass cabin on top is traded out for a panoramic wrap-around glazing area that uses GE’s Lexan polycarbonate resin. This part sits between the two pronounced “muscles” above the front and rear wheels.
The QarmaQ also makes use of the post consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-based Xenoy iQ and Valox iQ resins for the body panels. GE Plastics says the QarmaQ reuses approximately 900 PET bottles destined for landflls.
The car uses GE paint replacement technologies, including Visualfx resins with Lexan films, to replace toxic paint operations.
Additionally, GE’s Noryl resin technology is utilized for ultra-thin wire and cable coatings, replacing PVC and reducing cable weight by up to 25 per cent.
In other GE Plastics news, Reuters is reporting that Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries Inc. may be a bidder for the plastics unit.
According to reports last week, the private company had teamed up with a private equity firm in order to bid for GE Plastics. Koch is the owner of a group of companies in various sectors, and is well known for its acquisition of DuPont’s textile fibre division in 2004. Koch was quick to trim jobs after the acquisition in order to improve the company’s standing.
GE Plastics is a global supplier of plastic resins with US headquarters in Pittsfield, Mass. and Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, Ont. The company has 80 locations worldwide — including manufacturing, technology and joint venture sites — in 21 countries.