The growing number of disused cars and the resulting amount of waste contribute to the increasing pressure on disposal sites. The materials selection for, and the design of, new motor vehicles are influenced by the need to reuse the constituent materials, The current situation often involves shredding old vehicles and sorting the resulting mixture of materials before disposing of a large proportion of the remainder on a dump. The possibilities for the future, including a new concept developed by Mercedes Benz involving the reuse of energy potential of the materials, is discussed.