40 Years of quattro

A technology and success story from Audi is celebrating a major birthday, as the quattro drive system turns 40 years old. Since the original quattro first made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 1980, the principle of four-wheel drive has become one of the cornerstones of the brand. To date, Audi has produced almost 10.5 million cars with quattro drive systems. Now, it is time for the next chapter in this particular success story: The prototypes Audi e-tron S and e-tron S Sportback use electric torque vectoring.

Audi is systematically moving forward with its e-offensive: The Audi e-tron and the Audi e-tron Sportback are becoming more agile, sharper and more dynamic as S models. The three electric motors, two of which are located on the rear axle, together provide 370 kW of boost power and 973 Nm (717.6 lb-ft) of torque. This allows the two purely electrically driven models to accelerate to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in 4.5 seconds. The intelligent drive control raises vehicle safety, and dynamic handling in particular, to a new level: In addition to the electric all-wheel drive, there is the electric torque vectoring with active and fully variable torque distribution on the rear axle.