Good ideas don´t get wasted. At the International motor show IAA 1997 in Frankfurt, the American side of what is now DaimlerChrysler AG (D-70546 Stuttgart) presented its “Composite Concept Vehicle” (CCV), a very small car destined primarily for the tiger markets of Asia, with a body of thermoplastics. The study and the extensive marketing plans then fell into oblivion. After Canadian injection moulding machinery builders Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd (500 Queen Street South, Bolton, Ontario / Canada) had constructed the world´s biggest two-platen injection moulding machine (80,000 kN) for the project, DaimlerChrylser and Canadian supplier Decoma International Inc. (50 Casmir Court, Concord, Ontario /Canada L4K 4J5) have now announced the first prototypes of a new thermoplastic hardtop for Chrysler´s “Jeep Wrangler” model. Fifty vehicles are to be equipped with the new hardtop by end of 1999. Series production is scheduled for 2001 models.

Decoma constitutes the “exterior” section of supplier multinational Magna International Inc. (Magham Ontario / Canada) and is regarded as the world´s biggest producer of car bumpers as well as one of the top-ranking companies for large-area, injection moulded plastic parts and components. Its Besttop subsidiary is one of the leading suppliers of hoods for convertibles. The Decoma Group is undergoing pronounced expansion. The company already achieved record sales of CAD 656m in 1998, while the report for 1999 shows a further increase in sales by almost 40 percent (!) To CAD 904m – on purely internal grounds. This is attributable first and foremost to the company´s clear Tier-1 position, supplying not only DaimlerChrysler but also Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Volkswagen. The company is well-prepared for taking on additional duties in the course of the automotive industry´s “progressive rationalisation of its supplier base”.