Gigacasting Is Rewriting EV Assembly With Technology Investments and Automakers Driving the Shift

The electric vehicle (EV) industry is entering a new era of manufacturing, with gigacasting emerging as a key technology reshaping how vehicles are designed, built, and assembled. By consolidating multiple stamped and welded components into large, single-piece castings, gigacasting can reduce part counts, simplify structural assembly, and enable more automated production. As automakers scale EV manufacturing, this shift is redefining EV Assembly, bringing large-scale casting together with battery integration, robotics, automation, and digital manufacturing to create more streamlined and integrated production systems.

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What Is Gigacasting?

Gigacasting is an advanced high-pressure die-casting process that produces large, complex vehicle structural components as a single aluminum casting, replacing multiple smaller stamped, welded, and assembled parts. In EV manufacturing, gigacasting is primarily used for major structural sections such as front and rear underbodies, and it can simplify the vehicle assembly process.

Unlike conventional body-in-white manufacturing, where numerous individual panels and components are joined through welding and fastening operations, gigacasting consolidates these components into fewer, much larger structural parts. This can reduce part count, joining operations, assembly complexity, and manufacturing time while enabling more automated factory layouts.

The technology requires ultra-large high-pressure die-casting machines, specialized aluminum alloys, precision tooling, advanced thermal management, and automated quality-control systems. For automakers, the strategic appeal is clear: fewer parts can mean fewer assembly steps, simpler production flows, and greater manufacturing automation.

Gigacasting Is Transforming EV Assembly With Real-World Limits

Tesla has been a prominent adopter of gigacasting. Its Model Y rear underbody, once assembled from roughly 70 separate stamped and welded parts, is now produced as a single-piece casting using Tesla's Giga Press machines, and the front structure has followed a similar path. This consolidation has demonstrated how large structural castings can support simplified vehicle architectures and highly automated production.

That progress has not been a straight line, though. Tesla had planned to go further and die-cast an entire vehicle underbody, front, rear, and battery midsection, as a single piece for its planned low-cost small EV, cutting a section that traditionally takes around 400 parts down to one. In 2024, Tesla shelved that next-generation plan, reportedly as part of broader cost-cutting amid slowing sales, and reverted to its proven three-piece approach: gigacasted front and rear sections joined to a separate aluminum-and-steel battery midsection, the same method used on the Model Y and Cybertruck. It is a useful reminder that gigacasting's technical ceiling and its practical, cost-justified ceiling are not always the same thing.

The significance of gigacasting extends beyond the casting machine itself. It influences vehicle design, material selection, tooling, factory layouts, robotics, quality control, and final assembly. This is why gigacasting is increasingly considered part of a broader manufacturing strategy for next-generation EV production, even as individual automakers calibrate how far to push it.

Gigacasting Gains Momentum as EV Assembly Scales

The expansion of EV production is creating demand for manufacturing approaches that can support higher volumes while improving production efficiency. Automakers are investing in dedicated EV platforms, battery manufacturing, automated production lines, robotics, and smart factory technologies. Asia Pacific is expected to account for the largest share of the EV Assembly Industry, supported by the strong EV manufacturing ecosystems of China, Japan, and South Korea. Passenger cars are expected to remain the dominant vehicle type, while battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are expected to register significant growth as automakers expand their electric vehicle portfolios.

This growth is encouraging automakers to rethink conventional assembly plants, developing production systems around EV-specific architectures rather than simply adapting internal combustion engine lines. Gigacasting fits into this shift because it can simplify structural assembly and enable manufacturers to rethink how major vehicle components move through the factory.

Four Technologies Converging with Gigacasting

• Large-scale die casting. Increasingly large die-casting machines allow automakers to manufacture bigger structural components in fewer production steps. These systems require significant investment in equipment, tooling, aluminum processing, and quality control.
• Battery integration. EV manufacturers are exploring cell-to-pack and structural battery approaches that can improve packaging efficiency and reduce architectural complexity. Combining gigacasting with battery integration allows manufacturers to rethink the relationship between the vehicle body, battery pack, and assembly line.
• Automation and robotics. Robots and automated systems support body assembly, battery handling, casting, inspection, painting, and final assembly. Gigacasting complements this by reducing the number of individual body components that need to be transported, positioned, welded, and inspected.
• Software-driven manufacturing. Manufacturing Execution Systems, industrial IoT, AI-based quality inspection, predictive maintenance, and digital twins are giving manufacturers greater visibility into production performance.

Automakers Driving the Gigacasting Shift

The competitive landscape identified by MarketsandMarkets includes major automakers such as Tesla, BYD Company, Volkswagen AG, Geely Auto, Hyundai Motor Company, SAIC Motor, Stellantis, BMW Group, General Motors, Toyota Motor Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and Renault Group. These companies are pursuing different approaches to increase EV production capacity, develop dedicated EV platforms, and strengthen localized production.

Tesla remains closely associated with gigacasting's development, although its own experience also illustrates the practical limits of pursuing increasingly large structural castings.

BYD has pursued an integrated EV manufacturing strategy spanning batteries, electric powertrains, electronics, and vehicle production, supporting greater control over key components and processes.

Volkswagen Group continues to develop dedicated EV platforms and manufacturing capabilities as it expands its electric vehicle portfolio across multiple brands and markets.

Meanwhile, Geely Auto, Hyundai Motor Company, SAIC Motor, Stellantis, BMW Group, General Motors, Toyota, Ford, and Renault Group are developing their own EV platforms and production strategies to support electrification.

Gigacasting Investments Are Accelerating EV Assembly

Investment in EV assembly is increasingly focused on production capacity, dedicated EV platforms, battery integration, factory modernization, and manufacturing efficiency.

Among the automakers in the MarketsandMarkets competitive landscape, BYD's Bahia, Brazil investment is a useful illustration of how quickly manufacturing announcements can move from plan to operating plant.

Tesla continues to refine its automated manufacturing processes, while Volkswagen is expanding EV production capabilities across its global network. Other major automakers, including General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, Toyota, Stellantis, BMW Group, Renault Group, Geely Auto, and SAIC Motor, are investing in EV platforms, battery systems, production facilities, and manufacturing technologies as they expand electrification strategies.

Strategic Developments Accelerating EV Manufacturing

Automakers are increasingly focusing on shared EV platforms, batteries, software, manufacturing technologies, and regional production capabilities. These strategies can distribute development costs and support new technology rollouts across multiple vehicle programs.

Stellantis, for example, has been developing its STLA vehicle platforms to support multiple vehicle types and powertrain configurations. Platform standardization can allow manufacturers to share technologies and components across different models while creating greater flexibility in vehicle production.

The scale of companies such as Volkswagen Group, Toyota, Hyundai Motor Company, General Motors, Ford, BYD, and other major manufacturers enables them to spread EV technology investments across multiple vehicle programs.

Challenges Associated With Gigacasting

Despite its potential advantages, gigacasting introduces real challenges:

• Capital intensity. The equipment and tooling required for large structural castings involve substantial upfront expenditure.
• Repairability. Replacing a large structural casting can involve different repair procedures than repairing several smaller stamped components.
• Utilization risk. Manufacturers need sufficient production volume to justify large casting equipment.
• Technical ceiling vs. practical ceiling. Tesla's pullback from single-piece underbody casting illustrates how cost, complexity, and production reliability can influence how far manufacturers take the technology.

The Next Chapter in Gigacasting and EV Assembly

The future of EV manufacturing is increasingly moving toward the integration of gigacasting, battery assembly, robotics, artificial intelligence, software, and digital manufacturing systems. Gigacasting can reduce structural component counts and manufacturing operations, automation can support production consistency and throughput, and battery integration can further simplify vehicle architecture.

As automakers expand EV production, the competitive focus is shifting toward manufacturing efficiency, platform flexibility, automation, localization, and technology integration. Gigacasting is becoming an important part of this transformation. Its impact extends beyond producing large aluminum components. It is influencing how automakers think about vehicle architecture, factory design, automation, and assembly itself.

Market data referenced in this article is sourced from MarketsandMarkets' EV Assembly Market Report (Report Code: AT 9248, Published July 2026).