European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 15, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New York time photo plastic thin of the outer body of the Pontiac Fiero being assembled at pm Plant and final attachment Bew to the inner space Frame. The coming Boom in plastic skinned cars by John Holusha new York times w Hen Detroit decides to design Amore expensive version of a popular  usually Means thai the new Model will have a Lew hits of additional Chrome Anda Pusher Interior Pontiac s plan for the new Fiero it. A High priced offspring of the successful Fiero two seat sports car. Is dramatically different. Thanks to the Fiero s unique construction a plastic skin of outer body panels attached to an Independent steel space Frame the general motors corp. Division was Able to retool quickly and it relatively Low Cost to change the styling from a chopped off Notchback look to a More streamlined  pm officials and Many others in the Auto Industry Are convinced that clearly d  styling approaches Are going to be critical to the future Success of specially cars like the Fiero. And family cars As Well. And. They say. Plastic is going to be critical to that Effort Detroit waa tint attracted to plastic because of its lightness which made it a key ingredient in the push to improve fuel Economy. But now that the Auto makers Are turning their attention Back to styling plastic so Ems headed for a major design Roie. Ultimately the designers say. The High Stiess High Page 16 the stars and stripes strength qualities of composite plastics advanced chemical compounds available in a Duvy ing rom apr of variations will be put to use structurally. One approach under close stud is taking the hundreds of pieces of Metal that Are typically welded together to form a car s Shell the internal Structure and outer body panels and reducing them to a few Large Complex shapes made from reinforced plastics in the 1990s, we Are going to see the use of structural composites in automobiles said Joseph feed an executive at the general electric co s applications development Center in Southfield Mich. A reduction in the number of parts on a car is a real goal of the american Auto  for now though some of the largest companies in the nation including be and  Dupont de Nemours ate rapidly expanding their engineering facilities in the Detroit area to take advantage of what they see As the coming Boom in plastic skinned vehicles the Owens Corning fiberglas Cor for example has predicted that the Auto Industry s use of fibreglass composites just one kind of plastic will increase to 450 million pounds a year by 1990. From 275 million pounds this year. Pm appear to be Well in the Lead in the use of the plastic body panels. The replacements Lor the current Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac firebird models due out in 1389. And the new front wheel drive Chevrolet Mim Van. Which will probably be a 1990 Model will have plastic skins according to sources in the a of Industry. Sunday december 15, 1985 doth the Ford motor co. And the Chrysler corp. Have incorporated plastic components in their current and future models including hoods and litigates in some vehicles but neither has evidently gone As far Ascom. Plastic body panels Are nothing new. The Chevrolet Corvette has had a fibreglass body since it was introduced in 1953. Besides helping with fuel Economy the plastic panels Are not  to Small dents like Metal and do not corrode a major advantage in Snow Belt states Sterna Fen a hey i00k much ion9er of make lha steel panels so they were restricted to Low volume High priced vehicles such As the Corvette