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In accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO/FDIS 14041, different recycling scenarios of aluminum car body sheet have been examined by an LCA study, including shredding, sink-float sorting and remelting; dismantling and remelting; combination of both techniques. The study was based on the aluminum car body of an Audi A8. For benchmarking reasons, these different life cycle scenarios were compared with a conventional steel car body fulfilling the same functions and with a lightweight steel body with 25 % weight reduction. It was found that for most of the selected impact categories, the aluminum car body life cycle which ends in shredding, sink-float sorting and remelting compares favourably even with a steel light-weight construction. On the other hand, dismantling and remelting and the more realistic combination of both techniques show advantages in comparison with the shredding and sink-floating technique.