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Mobility is an essential part of our lives. The ability to move freely is central to meeting our social and economic needs. For this reason we have embraced the car over the past century perhaps more than any other technology or consumer pr- uct. Today there are around 900 million vehicles on the world`s roads with another 60,000,000 new vehicles produced each year worldwide. The scale of the auto- tive industry is significant and far reaching. For example, it is estimated that around two thirds of world`s oil output goes to transportation whereby road - hicles alone consume around 40% of the world`s rubber and 25% of the world`s glass, with the consumption of raw materials and other resources further growing due to the rapid development of the automotive sector in China, India, Thailand and Mexico. Transportation accounts for around 25% of greenhouse emissions worldwide, whereby 90% of transport related emissions come from road vehicles, predominantly cars. Clearly, current levels of consumption and emissions are - sustainable. This in turn suggests that mobility as we know it, based on the tra- tional vehicle technology and existing production and consumer practices, is - sustainable. The challenge of developing new sustainable approaches to mobility confronts industries and our societies in general. The concept of sustainable mobility is m- tidimensional and the challenge of achieving it is quite complex.

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Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Wellnitz is Chair and Professor of Light-Weight Design and CAE and is Vice-Dean of Faculty Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Ingolstadt, Germany. After he studied Aviation and Space Technology in Munich, he worked as Captain and Squadroon Commander at the German Air Defence Artillery. After that, he was chief of the "Core-Competence Composites" and head of the section "Strength Powerplant System" at Rolls-Royce in Germany. Professor Jörg Wellnitz has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and books.

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