ENTRIES ARE NOW OPEN
DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: August 28, 2026
SAA's Innovations in Lightweighting Awards
An award competition that is free and easy to enter.
Winners will be announced during SAA's Materials Innovation Summit on Nov. 11, 2026.
Lightweighting remains a key priority in the automotive industry as OEMs and suppliers grapple with how to integrate new lightweight technologies without adversely affecting new-vehicle prices.
Easy to do from the comforts of your home office:
Step 1: Complete the short entry form -- Please refer to the judging criteria below when completing your entry.
Step 2: Submit photos and other background info that may help your entry. Upload them at the bottom of the entry form.
Step 3: Sit back and wait to hear from the SAA if you are a finalist.
The two finalists will be asked to give brief presentations on their innovations during the Materials Innovation Summit.
About the Award
The Innovations in Lightweighting award recognizes suppliers serving North American and global automotive OEMs with
innovative products or technologies that provide either direct or indirect mass savings.
The products and/or technologies can represent a wide array of solutions including parts and or systems (e.g., control arms that incorporate multi-materials like steel, aluminum, and/or composites, composite solutions within the seat frame, advanced glass that is lighter/stronger, E-motor drives/axles that consolidate parts and provide an overall mass savings package).
Past Innovations in Lightweighting Award Winners
- 2025 -- Marelli won for its LeanExhaust platform innovation. The lightweight exhaust system was developed in response to OEM demand for weight and volume reduction in vehicles with Internal Combustion Engines, including hybrids. The system achieves an overall weight reduction of 16 kg compared to conventional exhaust systems while exceeding or matching emissions-control and noise-reduction performance.
- 2024 -- CooperStandard for its FlexiCore Thermoplastic Body Door Seal, the industry's first sustainable body seal option on a light vehicle. It replaces traditional metal and aluminum carriers with lightweight plastic, offering enhanced sustainability (reducing the total weight of the part by up to 44%), without compromising product performance.
- 2023 -- Celanese for its High Damping PA66 Polymer that replaces metal with Zytel NVH Gen 2, a newly formulated polyamide (PA) 66. In addition to reducing weight, it gives drivers and passengers a superior driving experience by controlling noise and vibration more effectively than metal.
- 2022-- BASF for its Lightweight Seat Structure, which reduces weight by 20%, cost by 20%, and the number of components from more than 60 steel components to just four molded plastic parts.
- 2021 -- No award given (COVID)
- 2020 -- BASF for its Third Row Plastic Freestanding Seat Frame, which was 30% lighter compared to the previous steel version.
- 2019 -- Novelis for its Electric Vehicle Battery Enclosure; the first aluminum sheet battery enclosure solution to address customers’ needs in the rapidly growing electric vehicle and battery markets.
- 2018 -- American Axle & Manufacturing for its QUANTUM™ Driveline technology, which is scalable across multiple applications and offers significant mass reduction (up to 35%) without sacrificing performance or power.
The Materials Innovation Summit is hosted and held in partnership with:
