Legendary brand quattro, popular as a major part of four-wheel-drive Audi nomenclature, are being renamed to Audi Sport.
quattro, quintessentially stylised by the lower-case ‘q’ for all models with their fettled four-wheel-drive system are a rather seasoned performance-oriented firm that became a part of Audi. Their four-wheel drivelines have gained immense popularity ever since the days of Audi blitzing the rally scene.
Fast forward to the present and we don’t have any shortage of quattro cars. Audi India have briefly sold the A4 3.0 TDI quattro, a four-wheel-drive V6 turbo-diesel rocket of a car, and the A6 with the same suffix. How can we forget the S4, S5 Sportback, SQ5, S6, S7, S8, S8 plus, the RS 3, The RS 4, the amazing RS 5 quattro, the RS 6 Avant, the RS 7 Sportback, and, of course, the R8? Everything from the TT and the R8 to the extremely popular Q-line, essentially being indirectly derived from ‘quattro’ with all Qs being four-wheel drive until greener solutions demanded the smaller Q3s and front-wheel-drive Q5s.
Recently, it was Stephan Winklemann, former head of Lamborghini, who took over at quattro GmbH. We knew then that something was afoot. The new Audi Sport GmbH division have eight new models planned over the year and a half. Look forward to more on this development. For now, auf wiedersehen, quattro.
Story: Jim Gorde
