SIX-MILLIONTH AUDI WITH ALL-WHEEL DRIVE

4x4magazine | 14/07/2014 | 0 Comments

Jubilee at Audi: The six-millionth Audi with quattro drive rolls off the production line at the Ingolstadt plant on 11 July – only about one and a half years after the five-millionth quattro. Audi will deliver the jubilee car, an Audi SQ5 in monsoon gray metallic, to a family in the United States.

Since the original quattro, the first Aud i with permanent all-wheel drive in the year 1980, this technology has conquered the roads of the world. With approximately 170 quattro versions – including the different body shapes, engines and transmissions – the brand with the Four Rings offers the biggest selection of al l-wheel d rive vehicles amongst the premium manufacturers. The quattro technology is available across all model series. The models Audi Q7, Audi R8, Audi A4 allroad, Audi A6 allroad and all S and RS models are only available with quattro drive. In 2013, Audi produced a total of 710,095 automobiles with quattro drive.

At the two German sites in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm, a total of about 2,000 Audi models with all-wheel drive roll off the production lines every day. Permanent all-wheel drive convinces customers worldwide. 44 percent of all Audi customers decided in favor of a quattro model in 2013. The best-selling model was the Audi Q5, followed by the Audi A4.

The international reputation of quattro was boosted not least by legendary advertising campaigns and motorsport achievements: The TV commercial in which an Audi 100 CS drives unaided up the ski jump in Kaipola, Finland, has had a cult following for almost 30 years.

Walter Röhrl’s triumphal drive in 1987 is also unforgettable. The racing driver set a new course record with the Audi Sport quattro S1 in the Pikes Peak mountain race in Colorado, USA. His list of achievements on the racetrack includes four times winner of the World Rally Championship, three victories at Pikes Peak, winner in the driver and brand categories of the TransAm Championship, two DTM titles, ten times winner of the National Super Touring Car Championships and one Touring Car World Cup.

After all-wheel drive was excluded from factory touring car racing in 1998, a racecar with all-wheel drive was not allowed on the circuit again until 2012. Audi’s team in Ingolstadt sent the Audi R18 e-tron quattro with hybrid technology to take part in the race and achieved a double victory, which was to be repeated in the following years, 2013 and 2014. In the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), Audi won both the driver title and the brand title with the hybrid sports car ion the years 2012 and 2013.