Volkswagen named Swedish Steel Prize 2025 finalist

Shaping the future of mobility

The Volkswagen Group, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, is the largest car manufacturer in Europe. Over 600 000 employees produce vehicles and vehicle-related services in 114 production plants in 17 European countries and a further 10 countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. 

By 2050 the entire company aims to become carbon neutral. With over 44 000 vehicles produced every working day and a total of 9 million new vehicles on the road in 2024, the Volkswagen Group are, in effect, shaping the future of mobility. 

“Playing steel producer”

Materials form the basis of the value chain, from iron ore to vehicle components. In order to increase sustainability in production all materials must be used more efficiently. This is where the story of SIBORA^® steel – Silicon-Boron Steel with Retained Austenite – begins. 

”It all started in 2017 when I picked up a pencil and some paper. Today we are playing steel producer,” says Dr. Ansgar Hatscher, Research Specialist and SIBORA Project Manager at Volkswagen Group Innovation.

Ansgar and his colleagues started out with an innovative idea of how to optimize the properties of high strength steel by introducing multiphase design in press-hardened components. After only one year of research and trials they had a breakthrough in the laboratory. It was a singular moment.

“Those early results took the topic of steel to a completely new level in our research department.”

One steel to rule them all

SIBORA^® went on to become a patented alloy concept in combination with a new production route – the bainitic hot forming process – that simultaneously results in high strength and improved ductility. The 3-step process can be adjusted in different ways to achieve different properties in the high strength steel component. 

Today, if you want to combine different properties in one car component – in particular zones of optimized strength and zones of optimized crash energy absorption – you have to weld multiple materials together. With SIBORA^® these specific properties can be achieved using one single sheet of high strength steel. 

“It’s a totally different way of thinking steel,” says Ansgar.

The case for group innovation

Group innovation is rare in the automotive industry, but the Volkswagen Group encourages it. The SIBORA^® project brought together scientific expertise in the fields of automotive engineering, materials science, production processes, materials testing, and simulation. 

“You need innovative partners, you cannot do it alone”, says Ansgar.

The importance of partnerships

Cooperation with Matplus GmbH and Comtes FH a.s. was a game-changer. It allowed Ansgar and his team to simulate the effects of different alloy compositions and processing steps. Together with Metakus Automotive GmbH they developed a unique research prototype line for pre-serial validation of the new process route. 

Kirchhoff Automotive GmbH was the first partner to prove the SIBORA-method suitable for serial component production. With SSAB, the feasibility of a large-scale industrial melt could be demonstrated. Finally, the simulation study on crash properties and lightweight potential conducted together with GNS mbH is a prerequisite for use in future vehicle developments.

What you want, where you want

One single alloy cast in one sequence – but with the potential to give you a variety of different properties you want, where you want. In the near future SIBORA® will allow new, better car components to be developed faster and in a more targeted manner. With a leaner production process, with easier assembly, with reduced costs, and improved sustainability. 

How far you can take the concept is an ongoing discussion with SSAB and the other collaborators. 

”We don’t use the full potential of steel today. It is a very exciting material,” says Ansgar.

The secret is out

Using less material for construction and putting a lighter car on the road both result in a smaller CO₂ footprint. In a SIBORA^® research study based on the ID.4 the weight reduction was estimated at up to 30 kg. If this reduction were to be adopted by every brand in the Volkswagen Group it would mean multiplying the result by… 9 million.

It gets even better. The SIBORA^® research results have been published and Ansgar and his team hope that others will follow. Their ground-breaking process has the potential to affect not only the automotive industry, but the global steel industry. 

For further information, please contact: 

Eva Petursson, Chair of the Jury, Swedish Steel Prize, [email protected]
Anna Rutkvist, Project Manager, Swedish Steel Prize, [email protected]