The ninth edition of the Forum organised by Automotive Circle International was held in Bad Nauheim/Frankfurt from October 16 to 18, attended by about 600 experts in the development of the design, materials, processes and manufacture of car bodies.

The Fiat 500 at EuroCarBody 2007 - Source: AutomotiveCircle.de

The 600 specialists, from 15 international carmakers, gave the award to the Fiat 500, assigning it 38.33 points out of a possible 50.

This enabled the “small” Fiat – the only segment A model present – to win over the other 11 candidates from Japan, United States, Europe and Russia.

EuroCarBody 2007 - Final classification

1. Fiat 500 - 38,33
2. Renault Laguna III - 37,53
3. Mercedes C-Klasse - 37,16
4. Volvo V70/XC70 - 35,87
5. Ford Mondeo - 34,69
6. Honda Accord - 34,44
   
7. Audi A5 - 33,90
   
8. Nissan Qashqai - 33,68
   
9. Land Rover Freelander 2 - 27,53
   
10. Lada 2116 Sedan - 25,85
    
11. Rolls Royce Phantom Cabrio - 24,53
    
12. Opel Antara - 22,09

The experts particularly appreciated the contribution made by the innovative bodyshell to the car’s NCAP 5-star rating (with a total score of 35 points), and class 11 “Insurer Impact” assessment: this is a record that puts the Fiat 500 at the top of its class in the safety field, and is even more extraordinary if we remember that it has been achieved by a car that is only 3.5 metres long.

"The Fiat 500 is a car designed to reach the highest quality and safety standards", as the EuroCarBody 2007 award underlines; "it is an important award that highlights the mixture of “creativity and skill” that is necessary to develop an innovative, winning bodyshell.

"Nor must we forget that the final competition is part of a vaster programme, that sees Automotive Circle International organising numerous congresses every year for the exchange of information and experience in the field of automotive manufacturing processes."

About EuroCarBody

Above: the official poster of the event (left) and Renault Laguna III body-in-white (right) - Source: automotive-circle.de

The EuroCarBody AWARD is the annual European innovation prize of Automotive Circle International awarded for trailblazing contributions to series developments in car body construction.

All international automobile manufacturers are eligible to participate with all of their automobile makes.

Each automobile manufacturer can enter the benchmarking contest with maximum two new car bodies. Car bodies must be series produced and no older than 12 months after SOP.

The car body presented are exhibited as uncoated body-in-white including all closures.

For the final voting, the bodyshells are judged on the basis of 23 evaluation criteria grouped in 5 macro areas:

• development and application of innovative materials;
• innovative solutions for development and design;
• innovative concepts applied to the industrial manufacturing process;
• values that are significant for the customer, such as safety, ergonomics, acoustic comfort and quality;
• comprehensiveness and quality of the presentation of the required technical/technological content.

For more information visit www.automotive-circle.de.

(Source: Fiat, Automotive Circle)