LyondellBasell (Rotterdam / The Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com) showcased its advanced polypropylene (PP) compounds at this year's “Plastics in Automotive Engineering” conference, organised by the Association of German Engineers (VDI, Düsseldorf / Germany; www.vdi.de), on 25 and 26 March in Mannheim / Germany.

On display has been LyondellBasell's new VW Tiguan compact SUV front end, which breaks completely with tradition by being produced using short glass fibre reinforced PP, rather than metal or other engineering plastics.

The company also exhibited its advanced PP materials for body panels, specifically talc-filled “Hifax” TRC 280X resin, used in the new Ford Kuga's spoiler and tailgate outer panel. The materials offer advantages to producers in terms of cost and weight savings. “Hifax” resins used for vehicle bumper applications, where low-thermal expansion, low-shrinkage, impact-resistance, stiffness and flowability and weight reduction potential are important, were also shown.

Furthermore a new “Softell” PP compound, already commissioned by IVECO for its new Eurocargo truck, has been displayed. The resin produces interiors with a warm, soft-touch feel and its ease in processing offers producers savings of up to 40% in production costs. The company also showed its new low-emission interior PP “Hostacom” compounds.