Audi Sport may eschew ‘quattro’ all-wheel drive ubiquity in a bid to better compete like for like with main rival such as BMW’s M Division and Mercedes-AMG, both of which offer a selection of rear-wheel drive and all-wheel driven cars.
Head of Audi Sport, newly renamed and reconstituted high-performance division and previously known as quattro GmbH (with a small ‘q’), Stephan Winkelmann told AutoExpress at the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed that there’s potential for fast Audis in the future that are rear-wheel driven. “I can imagine we can also have cars with rear-wheel drive or two-wheel drive in the future,” he said.
And on the choice within Audi to create some distance between their all-wheel drive system and their branding for potent performance cars, Winkelmann said: “Quattro can be a company, but it can also be an option. We wanted this to be clarified. We looked for something that was immediately recognisable – something that could be more than just the name of a company.”
The separation of quattro from Audi performance cars may be a tough pill to swallow for some brand loyalists, and indeed it may never be fully independent in the eyes of certain buyers and enthusiasts. But any allusion to shifting priorities or a dilution of identity is something the German wants quashed.
He explains: “Our cars will remain distinguished, but never pimped. We’ll always offer high performance, but at the same time our cars must be comfortable – and give you a feeling that you are better than you expect.”
Previously, and in keeping with a name that literally means ‘four’ in Italian and Spanish (cuatro), the famed all-wheel drive system was almost inseparably tied to Audi’s high-performance cars, giving them a unique selling point and identity, but robbing them of some competitive parity.
All Audi sports cars have come standard with all-wheel drive, from the RS range to the mid-engine R8, while conversely fast BMWs and Mercedes’ have stuck to rear wheel drive as a default, often with the option to spec their respective AWD system - xDrive and 4MATIC, respectively.
Having every model in the cars within his purview equipped with all-wheel drive isn’t something new for Winkelmann, who was oversaw Lamborghini as President and CEO for over a decade, as every supercar they made since after the Diablo came standard with an M4 layout. That is, with the exception of some special editions.
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