Video: Audi Quattro Concept Meets up with 1984 Quattro Coupe

At this year's Paris Auto Show in October, Audi celebrated the original 1980s Quattro's 30th anniversary by unveiling the Quattro Concept. Soon after, rumors started flowing around that Audi plans to develop a production version of the sports car, which is loosely based on the RS5 Coupe's architecture using a modified version of the RS3 Sportback / TT RS' 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five with 408 ponies.

Even though we've yet receive any official confirmation on the production model, the German automaker continues to release new material on the Quattro concept. This time, the Ingolstadt firm has published a new promotional film showcasing the design study as well as its spiritual predecessor, the 1984 Quattro Coupe. Watch the video right after the break.

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Report: Audi Working on a Production Version of the Quattro Coupe Study

If you thought we'd had enough of 'malignant rumors' with our last article reporting that Jaguar was seriously considering putting the C-X75 hypercar into limited production, you were wrong.

British magazine Autocar reports that a team of engineers at Audi's Ingolstadt headquarters are advancing plans to put the Quattro Concept from the 2010 Paris Motor Show into limited production. If approved, this would see the nouvea-Quattro being built in limited numbers at ItalDesign's plant near Milan.

Stefan Reil, Head of Development at Audi's Quattro GmbH alludes that the Paris Show car was always intended as more than a one-off, and that limited production plans are already at an advanced stage: "We know how to engineer it already." he said.

Though the newly acquired subsidiary has no facilities for vehicle assembly at present, ItalDesign does have some experience with low volume production, having assembled the BMW M1 supercar in the late 1970s. The Italian design house also has a history of producing one-off concept cars for Audi's parent firm Volkswagen.

The Quattro Concept features an aluminium / carbonfibre body and the four-wheel-drive underpinnings of the RS5 coupe. The powerplant is the same 2.5-liter turbocharged five-pot unit used in the TT RS, though Mr. Reil suggests it could be tuned beyond its existing 340 bhp (254 kw):

"A really good turbocharged petrol engine has around 140bhp [/ 104 kw per litre]. We're a little under that now. But with a larger turbocharger something around 350bhp [261 kw] is possible."

Mr. Reil, however, remains cautious: "We need feedback to see if it is possible. Audi has no heritage in building 200-500 cars that are really exotic. But it won't be over €100,000 [£86,000 / US$139,000]."

Furthering the possibility of a limited production run, Audi's Paris Motor Show booth hosted a scale model of a Quattro Concept dressed in rally livery and featuring an ur-Quattro-emulating front spoiler, flared arches and rear wing hints at a return to Audi's glory days at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

We will have further updates as they come through.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Autocar

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Audi Teases Rally Fans with Quattro Concept Model Decked out in Racing Livery

Well surprise, surprise. Do my eyes deceive me or did Audi just take a swing at the WRC? Hidden at corner at Audi's Paris Show stand, is this scale model of the Quattro Concept in rally guise hinting at the possibility of Audi returning to the dirt/snow/tarmac stage that made the four rings what they are today. Who knows, maybe it's just there to look cool (but my fingers and toes are crossed).

If a return were to happen, and Audi built enough road-going cars to homologate the quattro for rallying (as it would have in the good old days), then everyone should get excited. Audi coming back to rallying brings about the level of excitement that Schumacher's F1 return did, although hopefully they would perform a little better after retirement than the one-time Formula 1 master.

Fans may recall a little something called group B with such epic Audi drivers as Michèle Mouton, Walter Röhrl, and Hannu Mikkola. It was a level of rallying that was reserved for the hardest of hardcore drivers, a time when brass cajones needed to be behind the wheel for the cars to even start (except Ms. Mouton, who is exempt in this case).

While Group B and its age of lawlessness are long-gone, Audi has absolutely no reason not to do this and show the world what rallying was like before Subaru and Mitsubishi came into the picture. If anyone has any juicy tidbits on what this rally-looking quattro model actually means, hit us up.

By Phil Alex

VIDEO: Audi's Quattro Concept in Slow Motion and with Techno

Interested in seeing vids of the new 'anniversarious' Audi quattro concept? You know you are, and we aim to please. As a brief recap, you should know that this RS5-based concept is powered by a 408-horsepower inline-five displacing 2.5 liters that spins all four wheels through a 6-speed stick.

Below, you can check out some videos - one techno-backed and short, the other long, quiet, and mostly slow motion - highlighting some of the car's killer (checkered tail lights) and not so killer (the entire front end?) Details. Click on over to our earlier post for the full deets, but leave your opinions in the comments right down below.

From what we've been seeing in that previous post, a lot of you readers aren't too keen on it. Now that you've seen a little more, has your opinion changed? You just know Audi's listening, so do the comment thing below.

By Phil Alex

Audi Unveils Quattro Concept to Celebrate its Original Rally Monster's 30th Birthday

Audi has finally revealed its 'quattro concept' in Paris to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original car's 1980 debut. The new quattro, much like the original, gets driven around the rally stages of your dreams by a turbocharged 5-cylinder.

In this case, though, the 2.5-liter unit makes 408-horsepower / 300 kW and uses a 6-speed manual transmission to drive all four 20-inch wheels with 480 Nm / 354 lb-ft. Behind the center-locking dubs are carbon-ceramic discs wearing 6-piston grippers.

With its high-output 5-pot and diet, the new quattro is said to be able to spring to 100 km/h / 62 mph in a scant 3.9 seconds and return a fuel economy of 8.5 liters/100 km (27.67 mpg US).

That's fairly quick and efficient, and it's all thanks to a fantastic 9.48 lb / horsepower ratio and a huge weight reduction.

Using the venerable RS5 as a starting point, designers have cut 150 millimeters (5.9 inches) out of the wheelbase - now 2.6 meters - and chopped the roof by 40 mm in order to save weight from the get-go. Dimensions officially come in at 4.28 m long, 1.86 m wide, and 1.33 m tall.

In order to reach a svelte 1,300 kilograms / 2,866 lbs (200 kilos / ~441 lbs less than the TT RS), Audi used an abundance of aluminum and carbon fiber. The carbon fiber was primarily used for the hood, hatch, spoiler, and other bits. Designers have also thrown out the rear seats, which have been replaced with a helmet / luggage shelf.

Within the front fascia is an all-LED light setup (same goes for the rear), between which sits Audi's signature wide-mouth grille. Move to the front wide-body fenders and appreciate that underneath lies a 5-link suspension with "key components" in aluminum.

At the rear, the separate springs and dampers of the track-controlled trapezoidal-link suspension use elastic bearings as mounts on the steel subframe. Now look at it from about 20 feet back and you'll see that the fenders just appear to be too integrated and not sharp enough to do the original car justice.

Open the door to see a very nicely detailed (albeit a bit spartan) interior. The two 18-kilo passenger seats have either three- or four-point harnesses, while the driver faces a fully digital display which has two modes, "normal" and "race". If opting for race mode, Audi says the graphics "revisit and refine" the Ur-quattro's digital display.

Above the readout, Audi has given the driver some more throwbacks: four buttons (two on each side) to control the stopwatch and MMI functions. One such multimedia function is the neat web-radio, which uses a cell phone to connect to radio stations worldwide. Need more? There's also a readout of the rally driver's "prayer book" (track description) available in race mode.

So, dear readers, is this a fitting tribute to the original bad boy of rallying, or is this simply another marketing campaign using the memory of awesomeness to push some more product?

By Phil Alex