Shougang Jingtang and Chery Automobile have successfully produced an ultra-wide, ultra-thin 500 MPa galvanized high-strength automotive outer panel, which Shougang describes as the first product of its kind to enter mass production globally.

The new sheet has a width of 1,850 mm, a thickness of only 0.60 mm, tensile strength above 500 MPa, and achieves O5-class surface quality, the highest surface grade required for automotive exposed panels.

According to customer testing, despite reducing the sheet thickness by 7.7%, the component’s dent resistance increased by 50%. The development demonstrates the potential to replace thicker conventional automotive sheet with thinner high-strength galvanized steel while maintaining exterior-panel performance. 

The material is intended for large automotive exterior body panels, where surface quality, formability, dimensional accuracy and dent resistance are critical.