Facts and Figures: 40 Years of Audi quattro

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09/10/2021
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40 years, 40 figures, 40 images: fascinating facts and tales about Audi’s quattro technology
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40 years of Audi quattro

The track record

  • About 11.2 million Audi cars with quattro drive systems produced since 1980
  • Track record through 2020: 750,733 Audi quattro produced worldwide
  • quattro technology installed as standard in every S and RS model; currently 33 such models on the market in Germany

The mechanical quattro technologies

A wide-ranging array of technologies:

  • quattro permanent all-wheel drive and quattro with ultra technology for models with longitudinal front-mounted engines, plus sport differential for many top models
  • quattro with different versions of the multi-plate clutch for models with transverse engines and the R8 sports car

Electric all-wheel drive and electric torque vectoring

  • Electric all-wheel drive in the Audi e-tron* and e-tron Sportback* provided by two separately controlled electric motors
  • Audi e-tron S* and e-tron S Sportback* have thee electric motors, each with two electric motors on the rear axle for electric torque vectoring

The technical milestones

1980 to 1999

  • Original quattro in 1980 and Sport quattro in 1984 with manually locking center differential
  • 1986: First self-locking center differential
  • 1999: TT and A3 with electronically controlled hydraulic multi-plate clutch

2000 to 2020

  • 2005: First self-locking center differential with asymmetric, dynamic power distribution (40:60)
  • 2007: Audi R8 with viscous multi-plate clutch
  • 2008: Sport differential for the rear axle
  • 2016: quattro with ultra technology
  • 2019/2020: Audi e-tron* with electric all-wheel drive and Audi e-tron S with electric torque vectoring
  • 2021 Audi RS 3* with torque splitter for fully variable torque

quattro in motorsports

1980s

  • Four titles in the World Rally Championship from 1982 to 1984; three victories in the Pikes Peak hill climb from 1985 to 1987; then major success in the Trans-Am and IMSA GTO series in the USA

1990s

  • Drivers’ championships in the DTM in 1990 and 1991; seven titles in the Super Touring category in a single season in 1996

2010s

  • Three Le Mans victories and four WEC titles for the Audi R18 e-tron quattro


All terms in blue in the text are explained in detail in the technology lexicon at www.audi-mediacenter.com/en/technology-lexicon.