Audi Quattro - 1980
Car scale model kit in 1/24 scale manufactured by Tamiya (ref. TAM24031, also 4950344240319 and 24031)

With the Audi Quattro, which was presented in March 1980, the Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer launched its first all-wheel drive car and unwittingly marked one of the key moments in automotive history.

The design history of an all-wheel drive Audi dates back to the 1970s. In that decade, Jörg Besinger, head of Audi's drive system design department, and Walter Treser, project manager in Ingolstadt, began working on the concept for a four-wheel drive system. By 1977, the first prototype, known internally as the A1, was ready. It featured a four-wheel drive system derived from that used in the Volkswagen Iltis on the body of a two-door Audi 80. Torque was transmitted to the rear axle via a cardan shaft coupled to the gearbox, and the same differential used in the Iltis was used as the rear differential. After the A1 had successfully passed the initial tests, the system was further improved by the addition of a centre differential.

After the project was completed, the Audi Quattro went into series production, which was of course equipped with four-wheel drive. Hartmut Warkuss, Audi's chief designer, was responsible for the body design of the Quattro. Under the longitudinally mounted front bonnet was a 2.144 cc five-cylinder engine with turbocharger and intercooler capable of delivering up to 200 bhp at a boost pressure of 0.9 bar. The modern Hitachi electronic ignition system calculates the exact ignition moment based on the speed and the pressure/temperature ratio in the intake system.

The Quattro, with its four-wheel drive system, revolutionised the World Rally Championship, dominating the early 1980s. The Quattro won a total of 23 world rallies, winning the Manufacturers' Championship in 1982 and 1984, and the Drivers' Championship in 1983 and 1984, forcing all its rivals to modify their cars to eventually incorporate four-wheel drive systems.