Metalsa 'X-Frame' Truck Chassis

Innovative Modular Truck Chassis

MIRA creates innovative new chassis design for Metalsa, a Mexican-based automotive parts supplier, helping them to raise their profile and win a major OEM chassis supply contract.

Vehicle : Light-truck chassis

Territory : Mexico/North America

Customer Requirements

Metalsa wanted a ‘next generation’ light-truck chassis design which could help raise its profile and create new business opportunities. The new chassis had to be adaptable to a range of vehicle layouts, shapes and sizes and above all the design had to be different.

MIRA Solution

From the outset MIRA wanted to fully understand performance, functional and user requirements for the chassis. Along with benchmarking competitor products, in-depth research was conducted to establish these criteria. In tandem with this, the designers were given a ‘clean sheet of paper’ to generate free-thinking ideas.

	MIRA's solution the 'X-Frame' offers a cost effective and flexible solution.
	The chassis can be adapted to a range of vehicle layouts.
	The chassis design uses round tubes and castings in assembled using alternative joining techniques.
	Finite element analysis was employed to optimise the design for strength and weight.
	The design was demonstrated by integrating it into a conventional truck.
	The highly-versatile modular design provides basis for a variety of chassis structures for MPV/SUV & light-truck vehicles.

Concepts were generated and evaluated against the criteria established from the research and benchmarking. Simulation was used extensively as part of this process to accelerate the development timescales.  Two chassis architectures were selected for further development which finally led to the chosen design.

Innovative Features

MIRA’s solution is radically different from existing chassis designs:

• Highly-versatile modular design provides basis for a variety of chassis structures for MPV/SUV & light-truck vehicles
• Uses round tubes and castings in alternative materials
• Chassis assembled using alternative joining techniques
• Low-capital investment by maximising use of existing plant

It was not just the final design but also the development process itself which was innovative and was critical to the successful outcome of the project.

Customer Benefits

In all critical areas, the static and dynamic performance of X-frame is better than existing designs from leading manufacturers.  It can be easily tailored to different vehicles at low capital investment costs, passing on lower costs to Metalsa’s customers and giving them a competitive edge.  Metalsa now has a design that caters for their key North American market but which also offers far greater potential.

Metalsa have since used the X-Frame chassis to help them win a significant chassis supply contract with a major OEM.  It is also expected that key elements of MIRA’s design will be incorporated into future chassis designs.