Audi is plotting a return of the legendary
Quattro to its line-up, some 30 years after the original model appeared. The
new model, which promises to be one of the German manufacturer’s most exciting
cars of recent times, is set to be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in
September, before going on sale next year.
Short-wheelbase
Sport Quattro inspired Audi’s new super-coupé
The modern-day Quattro aims to revive the
spirit of the rally-bred Sport Quattro launched in 1984, and has been conceived
as a limited-production model that is set to be priced well above that of any
existing Audi – which means more than $188,000. It will be assembled on a
dedicated production line at the Quattro division in Neckarsulm, Germany.
First hinted at in 2010 with the unveiling
of the Quattro concept, the new car is expected to form the centerpiece of
Audi’s renewed focus on four-wheel drive following moves by Jaguar, BMW and
Mercedes-Benz to increase the number of four-wheel-drive models in their
respective line-ups.
Audi has yet to confirm that it is readying
a revised version of the two-year-old Quattro concept for limited production,
but Ingolstadt officials have already revealed to Autocar that the focus of the
company’s activities at the Frankfurt show will be on four-wheel drive. “We
have a great history with Quattro four-wheel drive and this will be reflected
by what we have in store for the Frankfurt motor show,” said a source.
This
2010 concept hinted at Audi’s ambition to revive the Quattro
Details remain scarce, but in a move aimed
at reining in development costs and providing crucial economies of scale, Audi
is thought to have held firm to its original plans to base the road-going
production version of the well-received Quattro concept on a modified version
of the MLB platform that underpins the A5. However, while the concept rode on a
2600mm wheelbase, the production car is likely to use a wheelbase similar to
that of the existing A5, at 2810mm. The change will alter the Quattro’s
proportions slightly but at the same time provide it with added interior space.
The use of the longer wheelbase means the
new car is also set to grow beyond the 4280mm of the concept to somewhere
around 4500mm in length, or just over 200mm less than the A5. Width and height
are, however, likely to mirror the concept at 1860mm and 1330mm respectively.
Audi
looks set to provide the production version of the Quattro with a heavily tuned
version of its twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, complete with cylinder
deactivation
In place of the 408bhp turbocharged
2.5-liter, five-cylinder engine used in the earlier concept, Audi looks set to
provide the production version of the Quattro with a heavily tuned version of
its twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, complete with cylinder deactivation. Again,
nothing is official, but Audi sources suggest power will be pumped up to more
than 600bhp – 40bhp more than the recently introduced RS6 Avant, which uses the
same power-plant.
The V8’s heady power reserves will be
channeled through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox with paddle shifters and,
in keeping with tradition, a Torsen torque-sensing four-wheel drive system with
a sport differential offering torque vectoring to all four wheels.
Extensive use of lightweight materials will
be made in non-load-bearing areas as part of Audi’s Ultra weight-saving
initiative, but whether Audi can achieve the 1300kg Kerb weight it claimed for
the concept remains to be seen. As a point of reference, the four-wheel-drive,
328bhp supercharged 3.0-liter V6-powered S5 weighs 1,745kg.
Sources suggest a 0-62mph time of less than
4.0sec and a top speed approaching 186mph, which is the sort of straight-line
performance matched in the Audi line-up only by the R8 V10.
