Faurecia SE (Faurecia) announced that FORVIA has equipped the Jeep Avenger, which was awarded European Car of the Year 2023, with several solutions: door panels; hot and cold end technologies; multiple energy management; and environmental sensors. Faurecia also announced that the second and third ranked vehicles – VW ID Buzz and Nissan Ariya, have been fitted with FORVIA’s solutions. VW’s first BEV ID Buzz got FORVIA’s door and instrument panels, complete seats, electronics including a keyless access solution and accelerator pedal sensors as well as the VW front and rear lighting. The Nissan Ariya electric SUV got FORVIA’s seating cushions, mechanisms and latest generation backrest, environment and position sensors, and a customized center console. (From a press release dated January 24, 2023)

On January 18, the BMW Group announced that it is planning Rolls-Royce door production as well as a new battery test center in the Wackersdorf plant in the coming months. In the future, doors for luxury models from Rolls-Royce will come exclusively from this plant.
The new body construction area required for this will be prepared in 2023, and from 2024 the door production systems for the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Spectre will be set up and put into operation.
From 2025, the BMW Group will carry out extensive tests on storage systems, battery modules, and electrified vehicles in a new battery test center in Wackersdorf. The required test benches will be installed, and the series operation prepared as early as autumn 2023.
Besides, the existing site technologies for cockpit production had already secured an important follow-up order for the production of instrument panels for the BMW 3 series in the summer of 2022, which will secure production in the Upper Palatinate into the 2030s.

Based on BMW Group press release

Futaba Industrial Co., Ltd. (Futaba Industrial) announced that body and other parts using its 1470MPa cold-rolled ultra-high-tensile strength steel have been applied to Toyota Motor Corporation’s all-new Prius. 1470MPa cold-rolled ultra-high-tensile steel is extremely strong and it is possible to achieve both weight reduction and high strength by using thin sheets. On the other hand, there have been problems of being difficult to form and also the springback phenomenon (the force of the material trying to return to its original shape) after forming. To counter these issues, Futaba Industrial utilized molding analysis to produce the optimal shape. The 1470MPa cold-rolled ultra-high-tensile material was used for the front pillar upper outer, for which hot stamped material was used in the previous generation. In addition, 1180MPa cold-rolled ultra-high-tensile material was used for the front pillar lower outer/hinge reinforcement, cowl side inner, and rail outer/inner. Furthermore, this material is also adopted for instrument panel reinforcement and exhaust system components in the Prius. (From a press release dated January 11, 2023)