Thursday 9th September 1993
For some years AUDI AG had been working together with the Aluminium Company of America on the development of a lightweight aluminium production car. The result was presented at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show: the aluminium study known as the Audi Space Frame. The body used new design principles: extruded aluminium sections connected together by diecast nodes formed a frame structure into which aluminium panels were integrated, where they had a load-bearing function. Just one year later the Company went to market with the first world’s volume-production car with unitary aluminum body, the Audi A8. Panels accounted for most of its 336 individual components, followed by the sections and cast nodes. Assembly was performed roughly 75 percent by hand.