Constellium recently announced that it will provide aluminum structural parts for BMW's new X models X4 and X5. The aluminum parts will be supplied by Constellium's The White, Georgia facility. The plant was commissioned in 2017 to serve automakers in the Southeastern United States. As a supplier of rolled products and structural components, Constellium has been a partner of the BMW Group for more than 10 years.
Constellium provides aluminum front crash management systems for the BMW X4 and X5. The collision management system was established to absorb energy during a collision to protect the integrity of passengers and vehicles. The front rails of the BMW X5 are part of the vehicle structure and support the engine, which is also supplied by aluminum. In the case of high-speed collisions, the front rail is used to absorb energy.
The BMW X4 and X5 aluminum collision management systems also play an important role in pedestrian safety. The system features a second smaller bumper beam that can help prevent pedestrians from falling out of the car in the event of an unfortunate collision.
Both the X4 and X5 are considered crossovers, making use of the "integrated" structure of the body and frame, thus providing a smaller SUV appearance. In contrast, the traditional SUV uses a body frame design on the truck chassis. The X4 is a sports coupe-style crossover with a 355-horsepower six-cylinder engine. BMW's X5 is slightly more spacious than the X4, with a 3.0-liter six-cylinder or 5.0-liter V8 engine to choose from. The V8 version has 456 horsepower and 478 pound-feet of torque.
According to Constellium, aluminum is the ideal material for X4 and X5 automotive parts because of its superior energy absorption properties. In addition, compared with traditional steel systems, the use of aluminum in auto parts helps automakers reduce weight, improve fuel economy, and reduce emissions.
Lionel Chapis, general manager of Constellium's automotive structure business, said: "We are very proud to expand our partnership with BMW GroUP to include the Georgia plant. The White factory provides state-of-the-art forming, joining, laser cutting and quality control to meet our customers' high volume requirements. "