Lutz joins board of steel materials supplier
 | Lutz: NanoSteel's "approach has the potential to offer the most natural progression for automakers to stick with their most trusted material - steel - and at the same time enjoy exceptional properties that support the design of next generation fuel efficient vehicles." |
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DETROIT (Reuters) -- Former General Motors Vice Chairman Robert Lutz has joined the board of a steel materials design company in which the U.S. automaker has invested, NanoSteel Co. said Wednesday.
Privately held NanoSteel has created a technology for the manufacture of a new class of high-strength steel that it hopes to eventually license to steelmakers for use in the auto industry.
NanoSteel's "approach has the potential to offer the most natural progression for automakers to stick with their most trusted material - steel - and at the same time enjoy exceptional properties that support the design of next generation fuel efficient vehicles," Lutz said in a company statement.
In August, GM's venture capital arm invested an undisclosed amount in NanoSteel as a way to tap into the company's new steel alloy technology.
"Over the next several years, light-weighting of vehicles will be a major focus area to improve fuel economy," Jon Lauckner, GM's chief technology officer and head of GM Ventures, said at the time of the investment. "NanoSteel's nano-structured alloys offer unique material characteristics that are not available today, making them a potential game-changer."
The lead investors in Providence, Rhode Island-based NanoSteel include EnerTech Capital and Fairhaven Capital Partners.
