SLA 3D Printing in the Automotive Industry

SLA 3D Printing in the Automotive Industry

SLA 3D Printing in the Automotive Industry In recent years we have seen more and more car manufacturers making use of 3D printing for prototyping and even for final parts. Industry giants such as BMW, Lamborghini and Jaguar Land Rover have all been a part of this new trend, producing design concepts, functional prototypes and finished parts flexibly and entirely in-house. This is not just convenient for designers and for the R&D process as a whole but can also reduce costs substantially and speed up time-to-market for new designs. At ProtoFab we have been working with a number of manufacturers in this field and have extensive experience of automotive prototyping. Among the manufacturers we have worked with is Great Wall Motors, the largest producer of SUVs and pick-up trucks in China. Let’s take a detailed look at how we worked with Great Wall to produce prototype parts for their latest model.

Great Wall may not be one of the most recognizable brands to western consumers but be in no doubt as to their scale. As early as 1998, Great Wall was already established as the biggest producer of pick-up trucks in China and their market position has only been strengthening since then. Into the 2000s they started focusing more and more on SUVs and the firm’s Havel H6 model is the best-selling SUV in China. Given the enormous size of the Chinese market this makes them one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world, and in the recent years they have been expanding overseas. Their pick-ups have been popular in Australia and Europeans sales are growing year-on-year.