The Crank: Why Audi shouldn’t build its Paris Quattro concept

By John LeBlanc Of all the groundbreaking cars at this year’s Parisian shindig, personally, Audi’s Quattro Concept was my out-and-out fave. I’d been hearing that Audi had been working on a revival of its original—or Ur—Quattro coupe (left)—in celebration of 30 years of Quattro, for a couple of years now. If you're the right age, the first Quattros are seminal cars, now classics. They had the credibility of not only countless rally championships, but also for jump starting a once-morbid brand, and supplying the golden nugget of what has become the cornerstone of Audi’s brand ethos: performance all-wheel-drive. The Paris Quattro concept does a lot for me. Not only does it harken back to the original, it hints at future Audis, especially the use of the recessed tail lamps and the evolution of the Audi face with the vertical air intakes at the front of the car. Now, my understanding was that the idea of a Neu Quattro production car was dead. The Great Recession, Audi’s push into making its E-Tron electric cars (right), and the speculated R4 midengine sports car to complement the existing TT, meant Audi’s been counters couldn’t make a business case for the expected 200-500 modern Quattros that would be built. However, after the glowing reception the concept received (and the thoughts of profits dancing in their heads) after its surprise debut in Paris last week, Audi's braintrust is at least saying all the right things to Quattro enthusiasts: it has not ruled out production plans. Stefan Reil, head of development at Audi’s Quattro Gmbh division, confirmed a limited production run may go ahead. “We are rethinking standard processes to make it possible,” he said. “We know how to engineer it already.” Now, I’m all for more performance cars. Especially with the new fuel economy regs threatening anything that may bring a smile to your face from behind the wheel. But Audi should leave the Quattro concept as just that—a concept. Except for a couple of PR-friendly runs at Pikes Peak, Audi can’t take it new Quattro back to its progenitor's competition roots. The World Rally Championship—where the original Quattro took on rivals from Peugeot and Lancia at the height of the Group B era—has devolved into using less powerful subcompacts. But maybe more importantly, Audi needs to be moving forward as a brand, not backwards. One lesson that needs to be learned in the past three years: the world has changed. Customers are looking for a new kind of value, not old answers. Revisiting quarter-century ideas seems like the well is running dry, which for a progressive automaker like Audi, seems untrue. Look, Audi, you have the various R8s, TT-RS, RS5 (which the Quattro is heavily based on) and more than likely, the midengine R4. Don’t get greedy and mess with your icon's heritage for the sake of a few extra Eruos in the bank. [Source: Autocar]

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