Before you even start to think that thought, it's true that these Audi fiberglass springs aren't the first ever produced from the stuff. Fiberglass leaf springs have been around for a while—the C4 Corvette is a notable example of the composite-leafed breed. But coil springs are a different story.

RELATED: Why is this revolutionary headlight technology banned in the US?

A while back, Italian parts supplier Sogefi developed a patented coil spring technology. Audi is developing this material process further with the supplier, and this is the result: a spring that's 40 percent lighter. As a set of four, these springs will save 9.7 lbs, half of that being savings in unsprung mass. Audi claims the springs are equivalent to steel springs (although they are thicker), and they're impervious to common chemicals. Audi also claims they use significantly less energy to manufacture—great news, sure, but what about cost? On this point, the company is staying quiet. Safe money is on this composite spring being a fair bit pricier than its steel equivalent, but that's just conjecture. If we get clarification from Audi on this point, we'll let you know.

RELATED: The Audi A3 Clubsport is a 525-hp super-S3

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io