CFD is widely used in the automotive industry across a wide range of department from vehicle aerodynamics and thermal management to power train and NVH. Specific applications areas  where CFD is well established in the optimization process include soiling, water management, cross wind stability, engine cooling, brake cooling, thermal protection, cabin comfort, HVAC system and wind noise.

Car manufacturers are continuously working to improve their development process, seeking more efficient and shorter turnaround times. Fully integrating CFD analysis early in the design phase ensures improved vehicle designs and reduced design cost and cycle time. This can significantly reduce prototyping needs and costly late-stage design changes.

CFD design and analysis has been used for decades in the automotive industry and engineers will continue to rely more and more on CFD as numerical techniques improve and high powered computing comes to the desktop. The challenge remains to accurately simulate complex geometries and multi-physics problems while providing fast results that can be effectively applied in the dynamic automotive design environments.