Take a closer look at cars. Look at the Honda Element, for example. OR the Aztec. You'll find about 25% of the body is plastic. Honda will be producing a plastic/synthetic block for their new Si engine. Metal bumpers have been replaced by plastic. And a LOT of cars have the first 6-12 inches of the lower body cast in plastic now. Finally, at least one tire manufacturer is testing plastic tires.
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Hey? plastic engine blocks? That just sounds wrong, as in deeply badly wrong. Thermal constraints alone kill that, before you even look at the other problems with that. Any proof of this, just because I'd be damn intersted in how they got round all the problems.
Impact testing is pushing the increased use of bodywork plastics, metal bodies are bad crumple zones, plastics will crumple properly. A massive simplification perhaps, but close enough.
That plastic coating of the lower body, are we talking about anti-corrosion treating or what? I'm not quite sure what your talking about.
Oh and those two examples mean bugger all to me as neither of those two cars are on sale in the UK, so I haven't seen them. Or I might have done, but with a different name. In either case I've no idea what they look like so really can't comment.
