Japanese manufacturers plan to make cars lighter and more fuel-efficient by replacing steel doors and frames with carbon fibre, starting in less than ten years.

A group of advanced-materials companies has teamed up with the government in a five-year research project, which, if successful, could result in cars that are 20 per cent lighter and consume 15 per cent less fuel. The group includes Toray, which supplies the carbon fibre used in Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner passenger aircraft.