Europe’s automakers are embracing a cheaper manufacturing alternative to gigacasting amid the industry’s costly shift to electrification and increasing competition from China.

Gigacasting grabbed the spotlight after Tesla started using the technology to press whole floor sections of its Model 3 and Model Y electric cars, but the method is a very expensive process, said Gestamp CEO Francisco Riberas.

“It’s not a trend that is really growing,” Riberas said. “What we see instead is a use for gigastampings: Stamping a big part in one single stroke and substituting 20 or 25 different parts.”

European automakers are adopting gigastamping, a more cost-effective, flexible alternative to Tesla-style gigacasting, to reduce production costs and compete with low-cost Chinese EVs, Automotive News reports. Unlike capital-intensive gigacasting, this method uses existing stamping technology to create large body parts with fewer components, allowing European manufacturers to lower vehicle costs without massive investment.

While Chinese manufacturers (e.g., Nio, Xpeng) have adopted full-scale gigacasting, European firms are pivoting to gigastamping, a technique creating large, single components (like double-door rings) that reduce complexity and cost.

Why gigastamping? It allows European automakers to use existing, cheaper, and more flexible machinery rather than investing in new, expensive casting machines. The move is largely driven by the need to lower EV prices to compete with Chinese imports, which benefit from lower costs and state backing, amid a costly, slow-growth transition to electric vehicles.

Suppliers like Gestamp are enabling this shift, allowing automakers to reduce vehicle assembly steps, cut costs, and increase production efficiency.

This shift to gigastamping helps European manufacturers, such as Stellantis and Renault, to enhance cost efficiency, with Citroen, Automotive News says, already launching low-cost EV models to directly challenge Chinese competition.

Gestamp
Gestamp, the multinational specialised in the design, development, and manufacture of highly engineered metal components for the automotive industry, has designed a new family of products that, thanks to the use of proprietary technologies, allows the integration of functionalities in a single part: Gigastamping. This new family of products helps car manufacturers to reduce their internal car assembly times, lightens the component by up to 15%, and optimises the use of raw materials. Gestamp’s Double Door Ring or One Piece Floor, offer a unique combination of increased crash and safety, lightweight, and CO2 reduction in a single product.

And in line with these products, Gestamp has developed a new safer, and lighter solution for the new EV architecture: One Piece Rear Frame. This solution offers the integration of the entire rear section into a single piece using hot stamping technology.

In addition, the new EV architecture implies a change in the functions of the chassis, a key component of Gestamp’s product portfolio. It is now not only important for driving stability and comfort but is also vital because it supports the engine and becomes important in the event of a crash. Gestamp’s technological solutions propose a revolution in the design, development, and production systems of new chassis. Gestamp is a leader in the technologies of hot stamping and hydroforming.