Chassis

The chassis of the car has dimensions in millimetres as follows.

The incoming F10 is slightly larger than the E60 in all dimensions.

The body is made from lightweight materials including aluminium, multiphase steels and very high strength press-hardened hot-formed steels. The average strength of all body materials has increased by 55% as compared to the E60.

The monocoque metal shell is shown above. The body struts in the engine compartment are all of die-cast lightweight aluminium as opposed to a conventional steel shell structure.

Here we see the distribution of materials. Aluminium (green 3) is used for hood and door panels. Multiphase steels with tensile yield strength >300MPa (44,000psi) (1) are used in many parts, and super-high-strength hot-formed manganese-boron steels with a strength >900MPa (2) are used in certain critical location. The rest (4) are other steels <300MPa.

The unit of strength MPa is a Mega-Pascal which is millions of Newtons per square meter. For comparison, Titanium alloy starts breaking at 940 MPa, Aluminium alloy at 414 MPa.

The goal of the choice of materials for the chassis is structural integrity, stiffness of the chassis (for cornering purposes), light weight, and getting as close as possible to a 50-50 weight distribution, front and rear, which also promotes better handling.