.... steel wheels are stronger than alloy wheels, and thus are less susceptible to getting misshapen.

Steel wheels are not only 'stronger', they are less brittle. That's why alloy wheels are much thicker, but alloy is a lighter material so equivalent wheels weigh about the same. Steel wheels are pressed and welded, while alloys are cast (IIRC).

BUT THAT would mean the "reducing the unsprung mass" thing is baloney, and its all about the bling!

AND that would mean people are shallow and stupid!

Imagine my surprise!

Surely some mistake?

And all to sell more alloy wheels and tyres, because both don't last as long as higher profile tyres shod on steel wheels, for many reasons, and cost vastly less.

The better handling abilities of the former are relatively minor unless you jump up several sizes (min. 2in on the wheel diameter and 30mm on the tyre width). The loss in comfort is noticeable though.

.... steel wheels are stronger than alloy wheels, and thus are less susceptible to getting misshapen.

Steel wheels are not only 'stronger', they are less brittle. That's why alloy wheels are much thicker, but alloy is a lighter material so equivalent wheels weigh about the same. Steel wheels are pressed and welded, while alloys are cast (IIRC).

I suspect it may be that alloy wheels are actually easier to produce at scale on automatic CNC machinery than steel wheels.

With my production engineer hat on:-

Steel wheel production. Rim

Steel strip cut to length - rotary bend to form a hoop - weld the join in the hoop.

Form the rim shape in forming rolls punch out and form valve hole, possibly anneal rim afterwards.

Punch out centre blank from strip and press out centre profile including punching and forming holes and profiles for wheel bolts/nuts - one operation.

Weld centre to rim - weld. Clean up welds, straighten rim to run true to centre.

Gritblast and paint.

Alloy wheels.

Pressure or gravity die cast whole wheel at one operation.

CNC 5 axis machine the whole wheel -turn and face the back, All automatic with a robot to load/unload and turn the wheel blank

Gritblast and paint - machine the outer face if design needs it.

It's just easier to automate.

While that sounds reasonable, it also sounds as if those advantages would have existed for quite a long time.

And yet a few (maybe 4 or 5) years ago another foreign lecturer asked me if he should pay extra for alloy wheels for his new Toyota Yaris, so alloys were an extra cost option here then, at least for that relatively modest car.

I'd suspect steelies are no longer an option, or at least no longer the no-cost-default-option, though I dont know this for a fact.

Back in the early 1960s, as part of my Metallurgy Degree course, we had a visit to a Rubery-Owen plant making steel wheels exactly as described by focussed.

They were also pressing truck side chassis members using a hydraulic press which leaked water copiously on the press stroke, and BMC Cambridge/Oxford rear axle casings.

Final quality inspection of the axle casings involved being supported at the ends and the differential housing being struck with a sledge hammer: no cracks = OK.