Aluminum pioneer takes steel path

Audi's new A8 sedan made headlines this month for being the first car to promise Level 3 autonomous capability, but it had another tale to tell: a big reduction in the amount of aluminum in its body in favor of steel. Audi pioneered the use of aluminum as a bodyshell material for its first A8 in 1994, and it marketed the car on the lightness of its Audi Space Frame. The technology continued in later A8s and spread to other models.