Larger and larger proportions of aluminium castings, especially those produced by the die casting process, can be observed during recent years in the automotive industry, house-hold articles and others. In case of the automotive industry, apart from the traditional elements produced by the die pressure method such as engine blocks or crank shaft bedplates, aluminium is displacing steel from structural parts of cars ('body in white'). The current state and development directions of the structural solutions of cold-chamber die castings are analysed in this paper. These solutions drive the prospective development of these machines and die casting technology. The focus is mainly on essential functional systems such as: hydraulic drives of closing and locking units, as well as pressing in die machines of known companies present on the European market.