Fourteen years after the Quattro, Audi’s technological onslaught resumed with the all aluminum A8 limousine. Because aluminum is less stiff than steel pressing a conventionally engineered body out of aluminum would have proved difficult, if not impossible. With the type of lateral thinking that has come to typify Audi’s approach, the company developed a whole new way of constructing a car. Under the sleek, aluminum paneled skin lies a skeleton of large section aluminum beams, which are both welded and bonded together. Not only does this result in a weight saving of over 300kg compared with a conventional steel bodied car, but it has allowed Audi engineers to use the inherent properties of aluminum to provide class leading safety. The separate chassis/ body construction also made a significant to isolating the vehicle’s passengers from exterior noise. The A8 was also the first Audi to feature the company’s new four link suspension. This design was said to be a big step forward over previous conventional front strut suspension systems, which had been fitted to nearly every front wheel drive car for the previous three decades. The range topping 4.2 Quattro used the Porsche designed Tiptronic automatic transmission, which also offered the driver sequential manual gear selection, unfortunately, the A8 appeared to show every sign of being ahead of its time.
Sales were initially slow, and no other maker has followed Audi’s lead into Aluminium Space Frame (ASF) construction. ASF technology, though, was also used for the A2, Audi’s super economical town car – something which further entrenched the company’s massive technological lead in the field of automobile engineering.
