Wagon to Highlight Innovation At SAE 2001 Debut

    DETROIT--Feb. 28, 2001--Wagon Automotive, the automotive industry's premier lightweight design engineering provider, makes its debut at SAE 2001, which runs from March 5 - 8 at the Cobo Center in Detroit.
    Wagon will not only demonstrate how it has gained the reputation of being a source of effective automotive solutions, but also how it has become an innovative exploiter of the most advanced technologies available to the industry.
    Wagon will be joining sister company Hawtal Whiting at Booth 1861. The companies will highlight their ambitious growth plans, which have seen Wagon increase its number of design engineers by a staggering 650% in just three years, as well as expand their operations to more than 50 countries across the globe.
    The company has taken the industry lead in the design and build of lightweight structures, with a recent groundbreaking demonstration of stretch-forming and welding of magnesium alloys. The exhibition will allow Wagon to showcase its innovative solutions and its ability to offer everything from specific design engineering solutions and prototyping, to materials selection and manufacturing.
    Commenting on the company's debut at the show, Nick Brayshaw, Chief Executive of Wagon said: "We have a strategy to be the market leader, or at least a main player, in every market sector in which we operate. We have achieved that in the stretch-formed door systems' market; we have enhanced our ability in the body structures market considerably in recent years; and our design engineering capability certainly puts us among the serious players in terms of critical mass."
    Principal services provided by the Wagon group include body structures, door systems, space frames, modular assemblies, and bumper systems. The acquisition of Hawtal Whiting's design engineering business in the UK and North America in October 2000 provided Wagon with key design and engineering skills that complement its existing automotive businesses. The addition of Hawtal Whiting to the Wagon group, combined with Wagon's partnership with Stola and its lightweight engineering expertise, means that it can provide a full body-in-white service for customers. It also enables Wagon to offer its automotive customers in Europe and the USA an integrated design and build capability.
    This pioneering attitude has seen Wagon demonstrate manufacturing breakthroughs in the use of magnesium at its Waldaschaff plant in Germany, which means it is now possible to produce ultra lightweight car doors by stretch-forming and welding magnesium alloys. By keeping its attitudes far-sighted and making creative, relevant, local decisions, Wagon is confident that its successful, customer-focused business structure will be adding value and dimension to the automotive industry for many decades to come.