Audi Sport Quattro returns as concept
The Audi Sport Quattro Concept visits the Frankfurt auto show. This time around the car offers a massive engine and more tech than is strictly necessary. Lovely.
Audi is synonymous with the Quattro AWD system, developed way back when and used to take on and beat pretty much everything on the world's rally stages.
The original Audi Quattro is a legend -- a car that stands out wherever it goes and a mere mention of it makes even the softest-core petrolhead smile. It was big, boxy, and awesome.
A later model, the Sport Quattro, had a shorter wheelbase and less weight, and therefore was a little bit more awesome.
Audi uses the Quattro name on its road cars as a suffix denoting four-wheel-drive capabilities most of the time, but that most holy of names is also given to the German firm's "special" cars.
It's been given to a concept before in 2010 -- the Quattro Concept had a silly amount of power and weighed a comparatively featherweight 1,300kg. In 2012 Audi launched the A1 Quattro. It was, as the name suggests, an Audi A1 with four-wheel drive. It also had the 250bhp+ engine you find in the last-generation S3. It was nuts. And brilliant.
Now, though, in 2013, Audi has unveiled a new Quattro car. The Sport Quattro Concept comes with a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V-8 twinned with a hybrid system. This means it's got 690bhp. That's...quite a lot of power. It'll hit 62mph from rest in just 3.7 seconds and it'll top 189mph. That's fast enough for most people, I imagine.
However, the hybrid setup means it'll manage 113 mpg and emits just 59g/km CO2, which is incredibly impressive considering just fast it is.
Aesthetically, the Sport Quattro concept clearly harks back to the car it takes inspiration from and the concept that preceded it. It's very pretty and oddly aggressive too.
All in all, the Sport Quattro Concept is a wonderful thing. Will Audi make it? As much as I'd like to think so, the answer is probably no...