Megacast and Gigacast Technologies

Patent Application Trends for Tesla, Toyota, Honda, and Great Wall Motor

2026/02/12

Summary
Trends in patent applications related to Megacast and Gigacast
Integrated Energy Absorbing Castings (Tesla)
Shock-Absorbing Structure (Toyota)
Aluminum Die-cast Vehicle Frame Structure (Honda)
Technology to Improve Rear Body Structural Rigidity and Production Efficiency (Great Wall Motor)

Summary

This report was created by MarkLines based on patent information from the "Technical Information Distribution Service - AI Ninja" provided by Toyota Technical Development Corporation (TTDC), and covers current technological topics surrounding the automotive industry. TTDC operates intellectual property (IP) as well as measurement and control businesses. The intellectual property (IP) business collects and analyzes information on global automobile development, provides consulting on research and planning, and handles foreign patent applications and technical translations.

In recent years, with the advancement of electrification in the automotive industry, Megacast and Gigacast technologies have been attracting attention as new technologies that revolutionize the manufacturing process itself. These are casting technologies that use die-casting machines with large clamping forces to cast large aluminum alloy components in a single unit, replacing a body structure that was previously made by welding together tens to over 100 pressed steel parts. There are significant benefits in reducing the number of parts and improving the rigidity of the body. Tesla Inc.'s (Tesla’s) introduction of this in the underbody of the Model Y has garnered significant attention, leading many manufacturers, not only Tesla but also Chinese manufacturers, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, and many others to consider and implement it.

Taking this background into consideration, this report investigates the trends of major automotive OEMs, focusing on patent applications and utility models related to structures in which large-scale parts such as underbodies and upper bodies are formed as a single unit, as an automotive technology to which Megacast and Gigacast technologies are applied. This survey uses patent and utility model information published after 2020.

The number of those applications filed was low in 2020, but increased in 2021, with a significant increase in 2022. Although the figures for 2023 and 2024 remain high, they are slightly lower than those for 2022. Looking at the number of applications filed by the top ten companies, Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. (Great Wall Motor) has by far the highest number of filings, followed by Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Chang'an Automobile Co., Ltd. (Changan). Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. (Geely), Hyundai Motor Company/Kia Corporation (Hyundai/Kia), Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (GAC), China FAW Group Co., Ltd. (FAW), and and Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co., Ltd. (XPeng)—Chinese and Korean manufacturers—appear together in the ranking. In terms of technical classification, Great Wall Motor has filed applications evenly across all categories, while Toyota has filed mostly applications for collision countermeasures. In addition, Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) tend to file more applications for the front than for the rear, while Great Wall Motor and other Chinese OEMs tend to file slightly more applications for the rear than for the front.

Toyota Technical Development Corporation

Technical Information Distribution Service - AI Ninja URL: https://thinktank.toyota-td.jp/pub/list
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