When ferrous materials were replaced by aluminum alloys on already-designed vehicles, part weight halved, and the price doubled for bolted-on parts. However, when aluminum is an integral part of an initial design, its lower mass can help to decrease that of other parts used to support it. Decreased vehicle weight can improve fuel economy, so residual cost premiums can be recovered over a vehicle lifetime, the time required decreasing with increasing fuel costs. Several firms in England and the U.S. have been investigating design and manufacturing systems for building automotive structural frames and unibody structures from adhesively bonded sheet aluminum. This article touches some of the important points brought forth in four presentations made during SAE's Annual Congress earlier this year.