Audi Quattro Concept Could See Production

The Audi Quattro concept revealed at the Paris auto show is being seriously considered as a high-priced, low-volume boutique production car. "I want to do it," Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn told Motor Trend. It would cost the equivalent of $560 million to develop the new body onto an existing RS 5 chassis. He envisions the Quattro as a full range of cars with different engines, and a global annual volume of about 35,000 to keep the price affordable.

Winterkorn says Audi already has many niche models, including the A5/S5/RS 5 range, and this new car would clash, even though it is only a two-seater. But he also said that each of the brands in the VW Group has "as much freedom as possible, with as much centralization as necessary," so brand chiefs can make their own decisions about a lot of things.

Audi's own chief, Rupert Stadler, told us he sees the Quattro as a low-volume car, likely with just the one engine. This would save development and tooling costs, but more hand-manufacturing would push the final price higher.

The actual concept revealed at the show is engineered to drive at 100 mph, rather than the creaky 30 mph or so common for concepts. It has already had serious effort spent on it, and has been in development for some three years. Its mission is to give a thoroughly modern interpretation of the 1980 Audi Quattro (sold in the U.S. from 1983-'86). That car was an era-defining machine in its ability to extract astonishing performance on difficult roads via a combination of four-wheel drive and a turbo engine.

The original car weighed about 2900 pounds, and the new concept aims to match that. The RS 5 is 3800 pounds, so to make the reduction, the new Quattro has a shortened body. Much of the body structure is made of aluminum, with carbon-fiber skin panels. The engine is a turbo straight-five instead of the RS 5's 444-horse, 4.2-liter V-8, while the transmission is six-speed manual instead of the seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch.

The choice of the five-cylinder is symbolic: The original used a straight-five, too. In the new car, it's the one from the TT RS, turned to the longitudinal position and boosted to more than 400 horsepower to deliver shattering performance in such a light car.

Wolfgang Egger, head of design for Audi, took the lead on the shape of the Quattro concept. He used to work at Alfa Romeo, where he designed the 8C Competizione concept, a machine that became a low-volume expensive boutique car using Maserati GranTurismo chassis componentry. It's like the Italian Carrozzeria, Egger says. "I've already introduced Stadler to the first customer."

All the basic elements of the concept car exist within Audi's production ranges. The question is how to get it into production, and the debate is between high-volume (unlikely) and boutique (more likely). In either case, it would take at least three years.