Czinger recently announced the reveal plans of its revolutionary Czinger 21C Hypercar. Almost every metal component in the Czinger 21C is manufactured using 3D printing technology.
The Czinger 21C (where 21C stands for 21st Century) is not just another 3D printed car but it showcases the new way of manufacturing automotive where it does away with tooling, assembly lines, and all the other expensive trappings of traditional automotive manufacturing.
According to Jens Sverdrup, Chief Commercial Officer at Czinger, “Those (metal) parts are made from a mix of aluminium, titanium, and Inconel–a heat-resistant material originally developed for use in the aerospace industry.”
Adding to Sverdrup’s point, Jon Gunner, the Chief Technical Officer at Czinger said, “Instead of mating those components together on a traditional assembly line, everything is done by robots in one central location. This means the Czinger factory won’t have to be reconfigured to switch to a different model.”
The hypercar is currently limited to just 80 cars as the company understands that 3D printing is currently suitable for low-volume production and it is not capable of mass manufacturing. But the belief is that over the next decade the 3D printing technology will be used in specific part manufacturing in all mainstream vehicle manufacturing.
The Czinger 21C represents the pinnacle of automotive engineering, innovation, automotive art and technology-based design. The 21C was created by a small team of designers, engineers and scientists using a revolutionary, patented production system. This revolutionary production system integrates automated design and optimization software, patented additive manufacturing driven processes, high accuracy automated assembly, and novel performance materials — the 21C is the first vehicle born of this revolutionary system.
Computationally engineered, 3D printed and assembled, the 21C chassis is home to an in-house designed strong hybrid powertrain that drives all four wheels.
The 21C’s advanced, highly efficient powertrain was designed, developed and built by Czinger. Placing the driver and passenger in the middle of the car in a jetfighter-style layout, the 21C is capable of 0-62 mph in 1.9 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 8.1 seconds. Czinger has utilized its own revolutionary technologies to create a 1250hp drivetrain and computational manufacturing methods to keep the dry weight under 1200kg, for that all-important 1:1 power-to-weight ratio.
The powertrain is then paired with a seven-speed sequential transaxle gearbox with a hydraulically actuated multi-plate clutch to complete the entire drivetrain, which is designed, developed and built by Czinger.
The Czinger 21C was supposed to be revealed and displayed at the Geneva International Motor Show 2020 and the team had already flew to the exhibition and set up their stand.
The Geneva International Motor Show 2020 was to be the global public debut of the ground-breaking hypercar with the core team present at the venue to showcase the company as a brand, spread its mission, vision and future plans to the visitors but unfortunately the show was cancelled at the last moment.
The show organisers issued a press release on 28th of February 2020 stating:
[penci_blockquote style=”style-3″ align=”none” author=””]“The 90th edition of the GIMS, which was supposed to welcome the media from next Monday and the general public from 5 to 15 March 2020, will now finally not take place. This is an injunction decision of the Federal Council of 28 February 2020 that no events with more than 1,000 people are allowed to take place until 15 March 2020. The decision falls 3 days before the opening of the exhibition to the media.”[/penci_blockquote]
Maurice Turrettini, the Chairman of the Foundation Board commented, “We regret this situation, but the health of all participants is our and our exhibitors’ top priority. This is a case of force majeure and a tremendous loss for the manufacturers who have invested massively in their presence in Geneva. However, we are convinced that they will understand this decision.”
About Manufactur3D Magazine: Manufactur3D is an online magazine on 3D Printing. Visit our Global News page for more updates on Global 3D Printing News. To stay up-to-date about the latest happenings in the 3D printing world, like us on Facebook or follow us on LinkedIn.