Aspirin Maker Bayer Gets into the Supercar Business

Sure, the German company is best known for relieving headaches—its chemist Max Hoffman synthesized aspirin in 1897—but the $12 billion (2008) Bayer AG is also in the material science business, and makes high-performance plastics that have long been used to make lightweight car bodies.

In 1967, Bayer joined with BMW to build what it says was the world’s first all-plastic concept vehicle—only the engine and transmission were metal. Bayer also joined with BMW to make the energy-absorbing foam-covered roof frame for the C1, a semi-enclosed motorcycle (with seatbelts!) that the automaker offered in 2001 and 2002.

With Rinspeed, Bayer has worked on the Senso, zaZen and eXasis concept cars (the odd capitalization is accurate). The roof of the current Smart car is made of Bayer’s polycarbonate glazing—it offers a 50 percent mass reduction over glass, which is obviously important in electric cars, plug-in hybrids and other green vehicles.

According to David Loren, market lead for Bayer MaterialScience’s polycarbonates group, “Yes, we are the aspirin guys, but we’ve been promoting light-weighting and mass reduction to the auto companies for years, but the market hasn’t screamed for these technologies—until now!”

Now Bayer is going into the car business directly. Bayer’s automotive partner is Los Angeles-based Velozzi, which is planning to build not only a 770-horsepower battery supercar capable of zero to 60 in three seconds but a very fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid crossover SUV capable of 100 mpg and winning the $10 million Progressive Auto X Prize. According to Loren, the SUV is targeted at the mainstream market, and Velozzi is also looking at a Chevy Volt-type series hybrid system, using a small gasoline engine as a generator to provide electricity for the electric motors that drive the wheels.

Reached in Los Angeles, Roberto Vellozi said his work on fuel cells for NASA (and also on one-off show cars) had led to his current automotive projects. “We’re assembling team members to assist in using advanced technologies to go into limited production on the supercar and mass production on the crossover SUV,” Velozzi said. “We’re trying to use NASA technology to develop software that will allow us to work in a more efficient way.”

“Vellozi is assembling a good team with good technology,” said Loren, “and he appears to have a good plan to get his vehicles to commercialization.” Production is scheduled to begin in 2011.