From a single part to the body-in-white structure
Ever since cars have existed, we have been developing, producing, and supplying metal parts—and, for the vehicles of today, hybrid structures—for the automotive industry. From a manufacturer of individual parts, we have grown into an internationally recognized development supplier of components and body-in-white structures.
KIRCHHOFF Automotive provides vehicles worldwide with extra stability and safety.
But we also offer our customers much more than that: we make a considerable contribution to the growth of their competitiveness.
The crucial cost and logistical advantages of our streamlined, medium-sized company structure with international presence serves a single purpose: to drive the market success of our customers and safeguard our innovative strength and earning power. This is our pledge worldwide.
29-09-22
A Smart Luxury Flagship SUV for Families
KIRCHHOFF Automotive also ensures safety in the new Lixiang L9. The six-seat luxury SUV is a space wonder and offers extremely comfortable space for many occupants. The L9 was officially launched on June 21, 2022.
Compared to its first model Lixiang One, Lixiang L9 offers an all-round improvement in interior space, safety, comfort and entertainment.
Lixiang L9 not only meets the highest safety standards of the C-NCAP (China-New Car Assessment Program) and the C-IASI (China-Insurance Automotive Safety Index), but also sets a higher level of safety standards for the brand: both sides of the 25% small offset crash will achieve the highest rating of G. G (“good”) represents the highest safety level in the C-IASI assessment, compared to A (“acceptable”, M (“marginal”) and P (“poor”).
KIRCHHOFF Automotive has developed all-aluminum front and rear bumpers and cross car beam for Lixiang L9. The all-aluminum bumpers not only help to lighten the body, but also effectively absorb the impact energy in the event of a front or rear collision, protecting every family member in the car as much as possible.
The Lixiang L9 replaces the traditional LCD dashboard and all physical buttons on the panel with two 15.7-inch OLED control touchscreen and a passenger entertainment touchscreen. The choice of an all-aluminum cross car beam involved thermal deformation challenges, which meant a higher level of design and manufacture capabilities for KIRCHHOFF Automotive. By constantly adjusting the position of the holes of the brackets, we were able to meet the tight tolerances required to keep the two screens safer and more secure while achieving lightweight and improved stiffness of the front structure.
The cooperation between KIRCHHOFF Automotive and Lixiang started with the first generation of the One, which has demonstrated excellent performance in the Chinese market over the past two years. This has also provided KIRCHHOFF Automotive China with increasing development experience in light-weighting and crash safety management for electric vehicle bodies. In the future, KIRCHHOFF Automotive will continue to explore the Chinese market and bring lighter and safer products to this market.
