My Significant Car - Audi Quattro

I feel one of the most significant cars that has been produced over the last decade is the Audi Quattro. It opened the gates for Audi to become the dominant force that they are now.

The Quattro was first put on public display at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show, one of the highest acclaimed annual motor shows. At first the car was seen as another plain Audi, but when the car was put into production it made a significant impact. The name “Quattro” is derived from the Italian word “four”, referring to four-wheel drive system (4WD). It was one of the first four-wheel drive systems that worked perfectly and inspired many other automobile manufactures to follow suit, most famously Subaru & Mitsubishi.

During its 11-year life, there was a total of 11,452 road vehicles produced. The visual design of the car has had no major changes, neither has the dynamic system of the car. The rear suspension was altered early on to remove the rear anti-roll bar to reduce a tendency for the lift-off oversteer.

The Audi Quattro was the first rally car to incorporate the four-wheel drive system after the then-recently changed rules. The first competition model Quattro had its debut in 1980 at the Janner Rally in Austria. The body was largely based on the original road-going version with only minor changes to comply with rally regulations. Many critics doubted the new drive-system saying that it would be too heavy and complicated, but the success proved them wrong. The following year Michele Mouton became the first female driver to win a world championship rally in her Audi Quattro.

Over the next three years Audi introduced the A1 and A2 models of the Quattro in response to the change of regulations set by the FIA (Federation Internationale de L’Automobile). In 1984 Audi again introduced another change to the Quattro. They introduced a short wheelbase that went on to dominate rallies in Monaco and Sweden, taking all podium places during the ’84 WRC (World Rally Championship) season.

Due to the short wheel based system, a special edition with a short wheelbase was put into production to be sold to the public. There were only a total of 224 cars that came out of the factory, which were all sold to on the German market for 203,850 German Marks.

One of the most significant models that was released was the S1. It set a new standard for race engines with its inline 5-cyclinder turbocharger. The S1 started the range of Audi’s ‘S’ car, which now represents an increased level in performance.

To commemorate the name and impact of the Quattro, Audi changed the ‘Q’ to a smaller ‘q’ to honour its former namesake.

Through its debut in 1981 to present day, the quattro drive system has had five dynamic changes to adapt with the increasing technology and power of modern cars. There are currently plans for a sixth generation of the quattro, which will allow the dynamic allocation of power to all four wheels. It has been reported to debut in the new Audi B8 S4.

The Quattro made such an impact that it has now become the standard 4WD system used by a lot of manufactures, including Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat, Ford and many more. Not only has it changed the drive system for the many road cars, but it has also dominated the motorsport racing industry for over two decades.

“The car was made for the quattro, now the quattro is made for the car.”