Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) has teamed up with Haydale Composite Solutions to produce the world’s first car that will feature graphene panels.

The company’s road legal supercar, the BAC Mono, has rear wheel arches made out of the lightweight and innovative material.

Compared with carbon fibre, graphene is both stronger and lighter, which means that it can reduce the weight of a car by about 20% while being around 200 times more robust than steel.

These benefits can have an impact on fuel economy, performance and cost when applied in the wider manufacturing process.

Neill Briggs, BAC co-founder and Development Director, commented: Making significant weight savings and improving body strength will allow us to offer improved performance to our customers.

This is the latest in a line of ground-breaking innovations on the Mono, and we were delighted to have worked with Haydale, on this exciting project.

BAC opted to test the graphene panels on the rear wheel arches because of the complexity and size of the part, thus properly testing the manufacturing process and how the material fitted in with the vehicle.

Haydale Composite Solutions’ Director of Aerospace and Defence, Ebby Shahidi, said: We are pleased to have worked on the design and development of the graphene enhanced carbon fibre materials for the BAC Mono.

These initial materials have shown some major increases in impact and thermal performance coupled with improved surface finish and it’s pleasing to see these attributes being demonstrated on such a high performance vehicle as the Mono.

BAC showcased the Mono model with graphene panels fitted at Manchester’s Science in the City festival.

The car is still being tested by BAC, though the firm says that it is seriously considering introducing graphene parts as an option for customers in the future.

The material was first discovered and developed at the University of Manchester in 2004.