This year's conference on “Automotive Plastics” will seek to draw attention to plastics as the best solution to the ever-increasing demands of the automotive industry, and continue the proven track record of our previous conferences.

Higher performance, superior safety, comfort, fuel efficiency, styling and lower prices are the most sought-after attributes in automobiles nowadays, while global climate change imposes a requirement for more environmentally-friendly cars. There is one material to provide solutions to all these issues: plastics. Thanks to the multiple uses of plastics and the improvements in the industry, plastics provide better performance, reduce vehicle manufacturing and operating costs, and help to improve fuel efficiency with no compromise in safety, comfort or reliability. Plastics are also environmentally friendly because they are easy to recycle. The strength and resilience of these materials provide better protection against corrosion, extending the life cycle of an automobile by more than 12 years. Although automotive plastics are in extensive use, the natural resources used to produce these plastics account for only 0.3% of the global petroleum consumption. In modern cars, approximately 100 kg of plastics replace 200 to 300 kg of conventional materials. All other factors being equal, this results in fuel savings of 750 liters over the lifetime of a car, estimated at 150,000 kilometers. This equals a reduction in annual fuel consumption in Western Europe by 12 million tons, corresponding to a carbon emissions savings of 30 million tons per year.

The conference will therefore be an excellent platform for exchange of opinions between the leaders of the automotive and plastics industries, academics, business leaders and investors.