This super strong, fast growing plant could be part of your next vehicle.

Ford says that soon, some surfaces inside our vehicles could be made from a combination of bamboo and plastic to create super hard material.

“Bamboo is amazing,” said Janet Yin, a materials engineering supervisor at Ford’s Nanjing Research & Engineering Centre. “It’s strong, flexible, totally renewable, and plentiful in China and many other parts of Asia.”

The benefits of bamboo have been recognized for more than a century. Its tensile strength is well known, as it can rival or even better some types of metal. And, because it grows to full maturity in just two to five years—compared to up to decades for other trees—bamboo also regenerates easily.

Over the past several years, Ford has worked with suppliers to evaluate the viability of using bamboo in vehicle interiors and to make extra strong parts by combining it with plastic.