Audi A8

In 1982, when Audi exhibited an all aluminium car body at the Hanover Fair, it was the public's first indication that the Ingolstadt based company had decided to act against each successive model's seemingly inevitable increase in weight. The task of investigating a volume production car suitable for this fascinating metal, which had been used for many motor vehicle components since the turn of the century, had in fact begun at the end of the 1970s. The result celebrated its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1994: the Audi A8. This book relates this 15 year development story: the search for new constructional methods suitable for aluminium, the favourable energy balance sheet which encourages its use, the almost infinite suitability for recycling which makes the all aluminium A8 the pioneer of a new generation of automobiles. The styling studies and the building of the first prototypes are described here as stages in the development of the A8: Audi Space Frame models with the V8 TDI diesel and the impressive W12 engine are discussed, together with the exciting Quattro Spyder which was built in prototype form in 1991 and the sensational AVUS Quattro, which made the headlines all over the world when exhibited at international motor shows. This book's account of a new passenger car generation also relates how aluminium was discovered and first produced as a metal, and the key part it has to play in the new chapter in automobile development which is about to be written.