Abstract: In recent years, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and EmissionCompliance have put forward higher requirements on the automobile industry,and lightweighting has become imperative forvehicle design. Composites, which are one of the most important lightweight materials, have exciting developing prospects in automobile industry. This paper mainly discussed the opportunities and challenges of composites in automotive lightweighting under astrong demand. On this basis, the “intelligent lightweighting” based on multi-material structure, low-cost composite manufacturing technology, green fiber reinforced composites and reusable/recyclable technology were investigated to discuss the developing directions of composites and problems confronting automobile industry.

Key words: lightweight of automobile; CFRP; multi-material structure; low-cost; green composites;reusable/recyclable technology