BASF to Showcase Advanced Materials for Next-Generation Mobility at Automotive Engineering Exposition 2026

Introducing a comprehensive portfolio of performance materials for next-generation mobility.

Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall, Booth 398 (May 27-29); Aichi Sky Expo, Booth 309 (June 17-19) Providing new low Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) grades for key industries including footwear, sports & leisure, and cable & wire.

As the automotive industry accelerates its transition toward electrification, lightweighting, and more sustainable vehicles, material innovation plays a critical role in realizing the future of mobility. At this year's Automotive Engineering Exposition in Yokohama and Nagoya, BASF demonstrates its role as a reliable innovation partner in the automotive industry, introducing a broad solutions portfolio addressing key challenges such as electrification, lightweight design, sustainability, and advanced material innovations.

Through these solutions and exhibits, BASF demonstrates how advanced materials contribute to improving efficiency, performance, and comfort across various vehicle functions and systems.

Key Exhibits (Yokohama & Nagoya):

Elastofoam® Steering Wheel

The Elastofoam® steering wheel, utilizing recycled polyurethane waste, demonstrates progress in circular solutions for automotive interiors. Post-industrial polyurethane waste is recycled and adopted into Elastofoam® steering wheels that meet all OEM specifications. Evaluations are currently underway for steering wheels using post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials as well.

This exhibit demonstrates the viability of incorporating recycled polyurethane while maintaining high quality, safety, and performance requirements, providing a practical pathway toward realizing solutions for future mass production.

IsoDynamic Seat

The IsoDynamic seat showcases BASF's technological expertise in delivering superior ride comfort, vibration reduction, and enhanced ergonomic performance, particularly for off-road and high-performance vehicles. Leveraging advanced foam and material technologies, the balance of support, resilience, and durability is optimized to improve comfort even under severe conditions.

This exhibit demonstrates the value of performance materials solutions in supporting user-centric design and performance differentiation, highlighting contributions to areas increasingly important for OEMs aiming to elevate brand value and the driving experience.

BASF, Toyota Motor Corporation, and US Farathane won the Grand Award and the Enabling Technology category at the SPE Automotive Innovation Awards for the IsoDynamic resin seat frame design featured in the 2024 Toyota Tacoma™ TRD Pro.

Stabilizer Link

This exhibit introduces BASF's advanced recycling technology for recovering polyamides from end-of-life vehicles. Based on depolymerization, the process breaks down dismantled and crushed polyamide parts into their original monomers. The recovered caprolactam is purified to high purity, repolymerized, and regenerated as high-quality polyamide. Further compounding is conducted to impart properties suitable for specific applications.

In a pilot project with the ZF Group, this recycled material was successfully used to manufacture stabilizer links, a high-performance chassis component for Mercedes-Benz. Testing confirmed that the depolymerized polyamide exhibits performance equivalent to conventional products in mechanical, chemical, and physical properties.

This exhibit demonstrates that this recycling method is applicable to high-performance automotive applications and will contribute to compliance with future End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) regulations.

Other Exhibits

In addition to e-mobility solutions like Elastollan®, a flame-retardant TPU for EV charging cable sheathing, BASF will also introduce a wide range of solutions related to lightweight structures and thermal management, including foam inserts, cooling piping systems, and stabilization components. Furthermore, Basotect® melamine foam, suitable for high-performance sound-absorbing applications, will be exhibited.

BASF at Automotive Engineering Exposition 2026

These exhibits highlight BASF's role as a crucial partner in the automotive industry, contributing to the development of next-generation vehicles through the provision of material solutions that achieve efficiency, comfort, and sustainability.

BASF will display these automotive innovations at both the Yokohama (Booth 398) and Nagoya (Booth 309) venues.