Ever since the early days of motoring, car manufacturers have been constantly toying with alternatives to steel that would make their cars cheaper to build or help reduce weight.
Although there were many options, only a few made it to production. Take plastic for example. Its principal use might be to keep your perishables fresh, but it also had a place in the motoring history books too, with cars like the quirky 1959 Citroen Bijou which featured a plastic bodyshell.
Years later manufacturers are still at it, although rather than reducing production costs, the main reason for alternative metals is to reduce weight. Carbon-fibre body panels are principally reserved for elite sports cars, like the Ferrari Enzo (above) at a rather hefty expense. And it's easy to see why. It's lighter than steel or aluminium and has excellent strength-to-weight ratio.
So if you fancy adding a little (glass or carbon) fibre to your diet, then we've put together a collection of 50 cars all of which have made use of alternatives to metal, from £100k+ supercars like the Aston Martin DBS through to the dinky Smart ForTwo.
