Has the shine come off gigacasting’s appeal?

Go back a couple of years and gigacasting was seen as a major breakthrough in manufacturing efficiency. Making large sections of a vehicle’s underbody in one piece would save waste material and time, as well as eliminate the time involved in welding. As many as 100 individual stampings (each requiring its own tool or die) could be replaced by a single die cast aluminium piece. Tesla led the way, with the Model Y the first high volume model to use the technology, for the rear underbody section. Several Chinese companies, notably Nio and Zeekr (part of Geely), followed, as did Volvo which is installing a couple of gigapress machines in its home plant in Gothenburg. It will also install a gigapress in its new factory in Slovakia. Toyota, Nissan, Ford and Hyundai have also announced plans to introduce gigacastings as they seek new ways of competing better against Tesla and the Chinese manufacturers in general.