Let's start with a number. Four.
It means little in English - probably nothing more than just a representation of quantity, or unit, but translate it to Italian and you'll be reminded of both an iconic brand with credible competence in addition to a machine which kicked some serious metal butt in rallying - quattro.
The Audi Quattro (banner) was a famous and a historically significant road and rally car for the German marque, which initiated the concept of all-wheel drive systems in rallying and went on to dominate in the sport.
As the car carries the same name as the four-wheel drive system, the car is always spelt as Quattro - with an uppercase 'Q' - and to avoid confusing the car with the system, the car is more often referred to as the 'Ur-Quattro' - which means 'Original Quattro' - in recent times.
Likewise the four-wheel drive system, quattro, is always spelt with a lowercase 'q' and is used to refer to any all-wheel drive system that is utilised by the Audi range.
quattro is a clear representation of Audi as a brand and a hallmark trait of high-performance cars.
Audi's slogan reads Vorsprung durch Technik, which means "Advancement through Technology," and there isn't a clearer example than Audi's quattro four-wheel drive system. Audi has an obsession with continued innovation, much like Rolls-Royce with quality, Pagani with the pursuit of perfection and Ferrari with speed.
Even super sports car automaker, Ferrari, joined the four-wheel drive fraternity with the launch of the FF in early 2011 at the Geneva Motor Show.
Audi claims one out of every two vehicles leaving the production line is equipped with the quattro system and just recently Audi rolled off its sixth millionth quattro equipped model - a grey metallic Audi SQ5 - off the production lines in Ingolstadt, Germany, to an American buyer.
Four-wheel drive systems are not new, they are in existence from as far back as 1903 with the Spyker 60 H.P. The 1966 Jensen FF (Ferguson Formula) is credited to be the first commercial vehicle with all-wheel drive system with no all-terrain capability - beating Audi by almost 20 years.
Yet Audi shined in an area that the Jensen didn't - rallying. Audi joined WRC in 1981 with the Ur-Quattro and was the first car that entered rallying with a four-wheel drive system. It was so successful that a couple of years later, the all-wheel drive system was banned in WRC. Audi eventually left rallying due to several other factors, which included the lack of safety of the spectators.
Audi's quattro system constantly undergoes key development changes and in 2005, Audi introduced a new generation of quattro, which was more rear-biased (40 front, 60 rear) for a more neutral response in corners and an improved dynamic experience.
The update turned out to be important in Audi's milestone when it was incorporated in the B7 RS4. For the first time, the performance sedan was deemed a worthy competitor to the BMW M3 of that era.
The same system was later utilised in other longitudinal engineered quattro equipped models including the A4s, A6s, A8s and Q7s. The torque is split across axles, between the left and right wheels, thanks to the highly evolved quattro system, a driver-selectable manually locking differential (rear axle only) and, eventually, through open differentials with Electronic Differential Lock (EDL).
EDL is an electronic system, which has the ability to brake just the one spinning wheel on an axle, therefore allowing the transfer of torque across the axle to the wheel, which does have traction.
Specifically ensuring that the quattro system was integrated in the Audi R8, the critically acclaimed supercar by Audi, the German marque re-engineered the quattro system once again. Today, the Audi supercar is the only four-ringed car to feature a Viscous coupling four-wheel drive system.
While we may deny that quattro or four-wheel drive systems are unnecessary, especially in a country like ours, Audi believes that cars get more powerful over time as technology improves.
For example, the Ur Quattro was powered by a five-cylinder, 2.1-litre engine, which produced a decent 197bhp and 285Nm of torque. Fast forward to today, the Audi RS6 - Audi's most powerful model with quattro technology yet - contains 560bhp and 700Nm of torque from a 4.0-litre V8.
quattro complements your driving style by combining precise control with a dynamic response for a rewarding driving experience. In Singapore, for instance, the quattro system will come in handy in the rain, as wet tarmac results in loss of traction. With quattro, when one wheel loses power, the credible system redirects power to the others - keeping you in control and out of danger.
Audi's quattro has been proven as one of the most fascinating technology in motorsports and rallying. If anything, it is a clear testament to the capability and aptitude of a system that can be offered on normal roads.
