How Ferdinand Piëch Created the Iconic Audi Quattro and Saved the Brand
The original Audi Quattro defied all odds and was so impressive that not even VW brass could deny its magnificence.
Throughout the course of automotive history, we’ve seen a handful of iconic names quite literally change the course of that very same history. However, there are also many other names that have played a pivotal role in that same process, and yet, haven’t quite achieved the same level of fame as others. One of those people is Ferdinand Piëch, who served as the chairman of the executive board of Volkswagen Group for many years, though his automotive career spanned more than five decades and involves everything from developing the Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS to the Bugatti Veyron – as well as, of course, the Audi Quattro.
In this recent video from Hagerty, we get the proper in-depth exploration of Piëch’s enduring impact on the automotive world as a whole, including the story of how the Audi Quattro came along and gave that brand an identity that remains intact to this very day. At the time, Audi was trying desperately to differentiate itself from the pack by using a Wankel rotary engine – however, Piëch wasn’t a fan, and instead, he believed that diesels and gas five-cylinders were the way to go. Thus, he ultimately earned the nickname “Wankel Killer.”
Piëch ultimately won that internal battle, and proceeded to have a tremendous influence within Audi’s halls – in fact, his peers called the company’s research and development center “Palazzo Piëch” as a result. Merely two years after he had a hand in developing the racing Porsche 917, Piëch wanted to instill some of that motorsports spirit in Audi to help revive it, at which point one of his engineers suggested that the brand focus on all-wheel-drive as a way to give it a leg up on the competition on the track.
While that doesn’t sound like a radical idea today, at the time, all-wheel-drive was something that was relegated to trucks and off-roaders, not racing cars. However, Audi developed a permanent AWD system that could turn as well as it could go in a straight line, and in fact, the very first Audi Quattro prototype wound up producing lap times that were on par with front-wheel-drive cars that had 50 percent more power – an impressive result, indeed.
From there, all Piëch had to do was convince VW brass to invest in his new AWD system, and he did that in rather spectacular fashion, too. Piëch showed up at a meeting with VW upper management that was being help on top of a mountain in Austria behind the wheel of an Audi Quattro prototype, then proceeded to climb up its steep, snowy, 23 degree grade on summer tires, proving its worth in such a spectacular and impressive way that this stunt wound up becoming a commercial for the brand, too.
From there, Piëch expanded upon his plan to build just a few hundred Audi Quattro models for homologation purposes when it became clear that such a thing was going to be a big hit with consumers. Of course, its AWD system also went on to dominate rally racing to the point where it killed off the two-wheel-drive rally car, and proceeded to get itself banned from other series altogether. Perhaps more importantly, the Audi Quattro gave that brand an identity and consumers a reason to buy an Audi instead of a BMW or Mercedes, forever cementing Piëch’s legacy in the process.
Click HERE to join the AudiWorld forums!
