Alcoa, Yutong Introduce Environmentally-Friendly Buses for Beijing Games

Alcoa (NYSE:AA - News), the world's leading aluminum company, and Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Company (Yutong), China's largest bus manufacturer and the number two producer in the world, introduced two new environmentally-friendly bus prototypes that will be displayed and road tested during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. The new aluminum-intensive bus body is approximately 46 percent lighter than a traditional bus and, therefore, requires less fuel and emits fewer greenhouse gases.

The new buses feature Alcoa's spaceframe technology ¨C used in automobiles such as the Ferrari 612 and all Gran Turismo Ferraris, as well as the Audi A8 which was just awarded the 2008 European Inventor of the Year Award by the European Commission and the European Patent Office for the development of the Audi A8 and its use of high-strength, low-weight aluminum to build lighter, more fuel efficient and safer vehicles ¨C as well as Alcoa Dura-Bright? forged aluminum wheels, Alcoa aluminum side and roof panels, and Alcoa fasteners.

The new Yutong buses will now enter extensive road trials, including helping to service transportation needs in Beijing during the Olympic Games and other major cities in China. The newly designed buses are part of a partnership to apply world-class structural design, materials and manufacturing technologies to develop a new generation of energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly buses for China's growing commuting public.

A recent study revealed that a weight reduction of 100 kg in a diesel-powered city bus making several stops would save 2,550 litres of fuel and significantly reduces C02 equivalent green house gas emissions over its lifetime.

The aluminum industry is projected to be greenhouse gas neutral by the year 2025 as a result of projected use in the transportation market.

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