Alcoa and GM Technology Breakthrough for 2004 Chevy Malibu Maxx

Alcoa announced today its role in the commercialization of a new General Motors forming process for aluminum body and closure panels that is featured on the lift gate for the 2004 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx. The lift gate is manufactured via GM's Quick Plastic Forming (QPF) process, announced earlier this year.

Alcoa has been collaborating with GM on QPF for the past three years through a joint development agreement focused on improving the alloy used for this process as well as other process improvements involved in the manufacture of QPF panels. Much of Alcoa's development work is ongoing at Alcoa's Technical Center (ATC), located near Pittsburgh, PA.

GM's advanced forming process enables the company to extend complex styling features, previously limited to concept and low-volume niche vehicles to higher-volume vehicles.

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