Introduction Swamy Kotagiri Chief Technical Officer@ Magna International The Department of Energy funded Multi Material Lightweight Vehicle (MMLV) research project provided a great opportunity for Magna International to collaborate with our long-time customer Ford Motor Company on an issue that is challenging for our entire industry ?C lightweighting. That is why we set out to address the mass reduction potential and environmental benefit of lightweighting a C/D segment passenger vehiclewhile maintaining occupant safety@ vehicle dynamics and NVH characteristics relative to the 2013 Ford Fusion baseline vehicle. The MMLV project approach included setting mass and performance targets associated with each of the major subsystems and full trimmed vehicle model@ enabling the Magna and Ford design teams to engineer the vehicle subsystems in parallel@ prior to conducting full vehicle durability@ fatigue and safety performance. The project scope included the manufacture of seven (7) prototype vehicles@ enabling a limited number of component- and vehicle?Clevel physical tests.. The design strategy to maintain the vehicle hard points of the baseline C/D segment vehicle provided the opportunity to integrate carryover parts and assemble fully functional drivable prototypes for testing and evaluation. The total project including engineering@ prototype build and testing took place within a 24 month timeframe. A lifecycle assessment (LCA) was conducted by a third party LCA expert@ comparing the cradle-to-grave environmental impact between the MMLV and 2013 Ford Fusion over the useful life of 250@000 km (155@000 miles). The results exceeded our expectations including clear advantages in terms of global warming potential and the use of energy. The MMLV project shows the potential benefits of combining lightweight vehicle technologies and a downsized@ high-output engine to reduce greenhouse gases and total energy. The MMLV manuscripts presented at the 2015 World Congress and contained in this book provide a technical baseline relative to the lightweighting study conducted by Magna and Ford. While this is a research prototype@ we believe the MMLV points the way to a more sustainable future and we are working diligently to make these lightweight technologies affordable for high volume production. Dr. Ken Washington@ VP Research and Advanced Engineering@ Ford Motor Company The MMLV research project was one of my introductions to Ford. I first was exposed to the project at a technical fair in June 2014 two months before I joined Ford Motor Company. Coming from a background in aerospace@ I was impressed with the creative solutions the MMLV presents to the weight reduction challenges for future cars and trucks. From the selected use of the highest strength steel@ through the use of aluminum sheet extrusions and castings@ to the judicious use of magnesium and composite materials@ the MMLV demonstrates what is technically possible for lightweight solutions. Collaboration is the key to success. With the U.S. DOE as a 50% funding partner we investigated@ developed@ built@ and tested novel lightweight components and systems at a reduced risk. In partnership with Magna International@ the team touched every area of the car looking for weight saving opportunities. The MMLV project supplied a wealth of information on what can be leveraged in our tool box as we develop future cars and trucks. The MMLV's goal was to investigate how to design and build a mixed-materials@ lightweight vehicle that could potentially be produced in high volume@ while providing the same level of safety@ durability@ and toughness that our customers expect from all Ford vehicles. The MMLV explored using the right mix of materials for each application in the vehicle. The project reduced the weight of the MMLV@ which is the size of a Fusion@ to the weight of a Fiesta and enabled the use of a one-liter EcoBoost engine to further reduce weight and improve fuel economy. The team delivered fantastic results. This fourteen-paper volume from the 2015 SAE World Congress documents the designs and test results from the MMLV project. As the costs for these lightweight designs reduce I expect to see these MMLV technologies in our future cars and trucks. A focus on light-weighting will be fundamental to our industry for years to come. Through the MMLV@ and other research projects@ we are investigating many advanced materials applications as potential solutions for weight reduction in our vehicles.