CHICAGO — Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. plans to expand its use of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) starting in 2017 as part of an initiative to reduce vehicle weight by 15 percent, it said.

The Yokohama, Japan-based automaker ultimately plans to use AHSS in up to 25 percent of its vehicle parts.

Nissan has already developed an ultra-high-strength steel (UHSS) with high formability for use in the new Infiniti Q50, which will go on sale in North America this year.

The company claims that it is the only automaker using 1.2-gigapascal UHSS with high formability, which is necessary for forming complex parts.

Employing AHSS and UHSS will reduce the automaker’s total cost per vehicle by cutting the amount of material used, the company said. In addition, production lines can be adapted for AHSS and UHSS use without requiring major modifications