The demand for ever lighter, cost effective component solutions remains a primary driver in the automotive industry. Tube hydroforming is an enabling technology for steel, with the capacity to deliver cost effective mass reduction. In the race for lightweight solutions, this technology delivers, when combined with clever design and effective materials know-how. In 2003, Corus reported information gained from project work to produce tubular blanks for an engine cradle using dual phase steel. Since then, there have been advances in both the tubular blank process and Corus's conventional tube mill processes. This has led to a new range of possibilities in high strength, low alloy (HSLA) steels, dual phase steels, and beyond that to exciting new formable grades that hold out the potential for even more advanced solutions with greater benefits to the automotive industry. The present paper shows how dual phase and other advanced high strength steels can be used in tubular form as the basis for cost effective lightweight hydroforming components. Knowledge of the full production process, from steelmaking to the performance of the finished part in service, is essential if the advantages of advanced high strength steels are to be fully realised in hydroformed automotive components. The choice of material significantly affects the design of both component and the effective production process. Control of the parameters that will influence forming and joining of the component at a later stage is quite simply, vital. It has been shown that advanced high strength steel can deliver significant performance-leading benefits when combined with appropriate tubular technology. A full understanding of the impact on material behaviour at each stage of the manufacturing process, e.g by modelling with modern simulation techniques, is critical.