Tariffs, tech and torque: What’s driving — and slowing — vehicle lightweighting

EVs intensify lightweighting push, but tariffs and rollbacks hinder progress.

For decades, automakers have sought ways to shed vehicle weight — from early aluminum and high-strength steel use to modern composites — but electrification, with heavy battery packs, has put lightweighting under the spotlight. Reducing mass improves performance, efficiency and range while helping to meet tightening emissions standards. Today, manufacturers are exploring a broad palette of materials — magnesium alloys, advanced steels, aluminum, carbon-fiber and bio-based composites and thermoplastics — to cut weight without compromising safety, durability or recyclability.