Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing
Ruh-Roh: Carbon fiber in short supply
Looks like it might take a few extra shifts of flipping burgers to save up for that carbon fiber hood you've had your eye on, bucko. USA Today is reporting that carbon fiber demand has gone way up recently, causing prices to quadruple in some cases. They blame the price surge on demand for new jetliners, like Boeing's 787 and its primary rival, the Airbus A350, which use significant amounts of CF, particularly for their wings. The cost of carbon fiber has jumped from $5 a pound just a few years ago, to a whopping $20 a pound today. We kind of figured it was sold by the yard rather than by the pound, but that's neither here nor there. To cope with the increased demand, carbon fiber manufacturers are adding production capacity, but that will take time. And in the meantime we'll have to keep paying more.
To put this price increase in perspective, they point out how specialty manufacturer Saleen had to raise the price of its S7 supercar by $25,000 for 2007. That might not seem like a big jump on a car that already retails for $580,000, but that increase alone could get you a Mazdaspeed3. And the tuner crowd could be especially hard hit, with costs more than doubling for products like hoods, mirrors, spoilers, and trim. Of course, faux fiber will probably be even more popular than ever as a result, which is the dark side to this story. It's probably the extra time to get their carbon fix more than the extra money it costs to buy that will effect most shoppers, however. Retailers are saying some product delivery times are up 4-6 weeks as a result of the extra demand.
[Source: USA Today via Motor Authority]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony 4:41PM (6/07/2007)
The Carbon Fiber shortage has existed for at least a couple years now. Not too suprising that the news media just picked up it now. In fact, in the last few months I think supplies have recovered a bit. over at Fiberglast.com they actually have stock now whereas a year ago they had almost nothing. I believe a new plant opened in Spain.
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Allan 4:44PM (6/07/2007)
Oh noes!!1! Short supply of CF M3-style mirrors for Honda Civics?!
Srsly though... maybe if we cut back on the ridiculous CF toilets and such, there would be enough left for the rest of the world? Ya, OK, so probably not enough CF toilets sold to make a difference... but ya.
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Peter 4:53PM (6/07/2007)
Most of the cost is in the processing, not the raw material. At $20 per pound, a 5 pound carbon fiber hood would cost just $100. But most cost well over $500. Clearly the increased material costs don't help, but material cost is not driving final part cost.
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adelossa 4:53PM (6/07/2007)
Oh noes! What will the ricers do without their CF hoods, trunks, seats, steering wheels, dashcovers, or side mirrors to put on their new 1980 Hondas?
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RoadRunnerSTi 4:59PM (6/07/2007)
LOL @ about Honda comment.
But seriously, I can't say I'm surprised..... even though I haven't really seen the price in carbon fiber products jump to much though.
Guess I should buy the carbon fiber lip kit for my STi sooner then later though, because I can only imagine it getting worse.
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Tony Belding 5:55PM (6/07/2007)
This problem came to light a while back on Tesla's corporate blog. . . http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=50
The shortage of carbon fiber cloth "due to demand from aerospace . . . and defense manufacturers" is mentioned right near the end of the article. There's also a lot of good info about how they work with the stuff.
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Namir 6:16PM (6/07/2007)
damn, i wont be able to afford that Zonda F now... cuz with all that carbon fiber its sure to move from 750,000 to 800+
if only i bought it when it was ... "cheaper?"
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Snark 6:27PM (6/07/2007)
My uncle is pretty high up in a major composites company, and he's been telling me for a couple of years that he's expecting a major crunch to come in the CF supply. The existing manufacturers need to bone up their supply capability, stat - and we could use a few more new ones, too.
I'll agree that the frivolous uses are the first ones that should go.
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Quattrofan 7:50PM (6/07/2007)
This is well known to board sailors as prices of CF windsurfing gear (booms/masts) have increased by 25-30% in last couple of years.
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bmcqueen 8:27PM (6/07/2007)
isn't this what we've been waiting for? Once the capacity increases then the price will go down in the long run.
I think this is good news.
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Pouya 8:40PM (6/07/2007)
It is true that the increased demand for carbon fiber (primarily due to the aerospace and defense industries) has created a shortage of supply, which has increased the price of carbon fiber. This has existed for the past two to three years. In addition, however, there are allegations (and consequently a class action lawsuit) that carbon fiber material suppliers (as opposed to manufacturers who use the carbon fiber to make parts or retailers that sell parts made in carbon fiber) colluded to artificially create a shortage of carbon fiber in order to raise the price. Accordingly, the increase in carbon fiber price might be due to some antitrust issues as well as supply/demand economics.
So what is the result? Well, the increase price of carbon fiber has made business very expensive for U.S. manufacturers, which already had to deal with high labor rates compared to overseas manufacturers (e.g., China) and competition from overseas manufacturers. The combination of high material costs and high labor costs has made the “at cost” price to retailers, which use these manufacturers to make its products, too expensive to sell to its target market/clients. There has always been outsourcing. However, now retailers that did not outsource are now pressured to offset the higher cost of carbon fiber by choosing manufacturers with less expensive labor. As a result, retailers turn to overseas manufacturers to continue to stay in business. Some retailers’ product quality will decrease due to quality control issues, the estimated time of arrival for parts increase by at least 4-6 since most of these products are imported FOB via ocean container (shipping via air is too expensive), but more likely more since the nature of engaging in business overseas creates many inefficiencies. The retailers that choose to stick with U.S. manufacturer (whatever amount still in business) will see its profit margins shrink or its retail prices rise, or both. Overall, the U.S. manufacturers that cater to such retailers are left with less and less clients, which makes it difficult to stay in a business.
So, the effects of the increase in carbon fiber price is not limited to a decrease in Honda Civic carbon fiber hoods; on the contrary. There is a market for such hoods and some entity will offer the supply, except, those who used to buy the higher quality hoods in the U.S. now are buying them (not necessarily knowingly) from retailers that are now making them in China. So you will see an increase of low quality carbon fiber Honda Civic hoods. In addition, there will be a loss of U.S. jobs as a result of more outsourcing.
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naggs 12:55AM (6/08/2007)
boeing has bought it all up, the new 787s are CF from nose to tail, wing tip to wing tip.
over the next few years, with the increased profit margins, the capacity will go up and then the price will come down. hopefully way down.
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Bart 7:41AM (6/08/2007)
Carbon fibre parts has become a terrible trend for tuners. It used to look cool, now it looks wank. For functionality (lightweight, non structural parts) you're better off looking at kevlar.
Carbon's only real benefit is that it's exceptionally strong for its weight. So on structural parts like a race car chassis its the thing to pick. But, exposed with a clear layer of paint as the hood of a car adds no value. The weight save is almost negligable. Not to mention if a good rock chip were to hit it, you're out looking for a new carbon hood.
If you're concerned about carbon prices and you're not rolling a show pony, look into kevlar instead.
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Pouya 3:40AM (6/09/2007)
Bart, you make some valid points. The increase in price of carbon fiber has narrowed its price gap with carbon kevlar. Carbon kevlar, however, is more difficult to work with than carbon fiber. Thus, it may be a substitute for mostly flat items such as a hood, but, most manufacturers will not use carbon kevlar for items with a lot of angles and shapes. In addition, for those who want to use it for show or a track/street car, most prefer the color of carbon fiber over carbon kevlar. This is especially true if they already have other carbon fiber items on their car and want to keep the same theme. Finally, I think your view on the benefits of carbon fiber is too extreme. Carbon fiber does offer a significant weight savings over OEM parts, especially if the parts you are replacing are not aluminum or fiberglass. As for a rock chip damaging a hood, although it may go against common sense, that it actually a rare occurence. Carbon fiber isn't very good on impact, but it is strong enough to withstand rock chips and the angle that the hood sits decreases the damage. The fact that Lamborghini, Ferrari, Pagani, BMW, etc. are proudly showing off their carbon fiber parts (more so than usual as of late) on the interior as well as the exterior shows that the trend is not going to go away soon.
The Reptile 9:21AM (6/08/2007)
I can see the 787's contribution to the carbon fiber shortage but the A350? That jet is still on the proverbial drawing board and won't be in service for another 5 years. I'm not sure how a vaporware plane is having an impact on the carbon fiber market.
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