This thesis is concerned with the use of optimization methods in the vehicle industry. Numerical optimization has been used with limited extend in the vehicle industry. However, great potential of using optimization methods has been identified during the development process of vehicle body structures. One driving force in this direction is the increased focus on building lighter and cheaper vehicles with better crashworthiness. There is also an interest, from an academic point of view in the area of optimization research, to establish the use of optimization methods in the industry.

This thesis presents a method that introduces optimization as a tool to be used during the design procedure of vehicle body structures. The three included papers introduces a way of including optimization methods during the development of vehicle body structures.