Walter had the idea of making the VW Iltis with more power. This small off-road vehicle impressed Treser with its handling. But he wanted to make a coupe, a 2-seater. Something fast and dynamic.

In November 1977 the first Audi quattro is finished. Based on a lengthened Audi 80 the A1 starts to rack up development mileage. Fitted with a turbocharged five-cylinder engine with 200bhp the performance was impressive. It was this driveline technology that was presented to Ferdinand Piëch for approval.

The in-house name for the car was A1, all-wheel drive version 1.

It nearly didn’t get the name quattro as the marketing department favoured the name Carat. Turns out that it was a lady’s perfume and didn’t quite suit the car… The Audi quattro made its first appearance in March 1980 at the Geneva Motor show and going on sale to the public.

Winning rallies throughout the world, securing drivers such as Walter Rohl and the first female world rally competitor Michelle Mouton. This kept the public interest in the quattro and all-wheel drive cars. The rest they say is history, we’ve now had 40 years of the Audi quattro.