GMG-led project to make lightweight eco-friendly monocoques

The project seeks to develop a stronger yet significantly lighter monocoque architecture, with a goal of reducing carbon intensity by 50 per cent over the next three years.

Project M-LightEn (Monocoque architecture – Lightweight and Low Energy) is supported by Innovate UK and the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), with contributions from partners Carbon ThreeSixty, Constellium, and Brunel University of London. The collaboration is expected to generate up to 160 new jobs across GMG and its partners.

As the lead entity, Gordon Murray Group will focus on researching, designing, building, and validating digital and physical prototypes. These prototypes will incorporate new materials and advanced manufacturing processes, laying the groundwork for future industrialisation. The project aligns with GMG’s broader objective of achieving significant performance improvements through weight reduction, particularly for its Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) vehicles, which could achieve the lowest lifecycle carbon footprint of any supercar.

A major component of the initiative involves reducing vehicle lifecycle CO2 by at least a third and AI-driven generative design will be used to optimise designs.