This year's Chicago Auto Show was chock-full of luxury and high-performance vehicles with something a little different under their hoods. 

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, "the cars feature the latest in steel and energy-efficiency technologies, including a next-generation high-strength steel developed at ArcelorMittal's Global Research and Development Center in East Chicago, In., and produced at the Indiana Harbor plant."

The developments that have been made by ArcelorMittal are crucial to an energy-efficient future for the auto industry, as the government has added new fuel-economy rules, which requires a "fleet average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, nearly 10 mpg greater than existing standards."

The Sun-Times reports that the Global Research and Development Center's "S-in motion" project demonstrates that "future grades of high-strength steel could achieve a 14-percent weight reduction in a five-door C-class hatchback and still meet passenger-safety standards."

New developments in this technologically advanced form of steel-making are important not only to America's status as a global leader in manufacturing, but also to our national security according to Ronald Krupitzer who is the vice president of automotive applications at the Steel Market Development Institute in Southfield, Mich.

The need for this type of automotive, clean-energy technology has also boosted the number of students interested in engineering, and the number of engineering jobs.  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that engineers have the brightest future as far as the auto manufacturing industry is concerned, through 2018.

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