Why do some new cars have steel wheels ?

A question about : Why do some new cars have steel wheels ?

Over the past few months I've noticed that quite a few new cars are going around with steel wheels ? Like basic wheels that you would find under hub caps. I'm seeing these mostly on brand new BMW's, Merc's and Skoda's. These are cars that clearly come with alloys as standard and it's confusing why they have steelie's.

Surly it can't be because of wheel theft as even my Corsa has locking wheel nuts.

Any guesses would be great, it's just niggling at me

Best answers:

• Winter tyres and smaller wheels?
• I'm guessing that more people are swapping to winter tyres on steel rims during the Winter months and back to alloys for Spring to Autumn.
• Simply cheaper and the fitting of alloys was brought about from sound engineering principles, to reduce unsprung weight. However most alloys are now for style only and weigh considerably more than their pressed steel equivalent.
• Fair enough. Thanks. I personally don't see the point on switching to 4 winter tyres on a 64 plate car with brand new tyres anyway. Unless they were thrown in as part of a deal.
• Because without any wheels the hubs cause a lot of sparks when driving.
  PS I use trims on my steel wheels with winter tyres then switch back to my alloys once the weather warms up.
• Or, some new carsa ACTUALLY come with wheel trims rather than alloys.
  Even BMW's.
• Sure they're not rental cars?
  I know that some of the large rental companies spec' quite nice cars with steel wheels, guess it saves tatty wheels and trims are much cheaper and simpler to replace than wheels?
  Had a car from Europcar a few years ago which was a high-spec Mondeo with steel wheels and no trims either!
• Forget winter tyre's, very few people use them.
  Basically people are increasingly buying the budget versions of cars these days, for many it's more important for it to be new, than for it to be a decent spec.