The origin of this concept is fascinating. For years, Audi had conducted
severe weather testing of its models in Finland during that country's
long winters. During one such test, Audi's Jörg Bensinger noticed that
in most kinds of weather the fastest and most predictable car in the test
fleet was an Iltis utility vehicle sent along for support purposes.
Developed in Ingolstadt by Audi, the Iltis had the same basic four
cylinder transaxle and engine as the Audi 80 of the time. On his return
from Finland, Bensinger discussed the surprising nimbleness of the
Iltis with Audi development chief Ferdinand Piëch - incidentally, a
grandson of Ferdinand Porsche - and received permission to build a
prototype car.

By 1977, Bensinger had an all-wheel drive system built into an
Audi 80 chassis. In one startling demonstration, it climbed a
snowbound winter pass with an incline of 20 degrees on summer tyres.

 By 1979, a more refined version was track tested against a number of
performance cars, and amazingly, on surfaces with poor traction,
like the snow-covered race track at Hockenheim, the prototype went
as fast as a rear-drive Porsche 928!

A year later, a four-car team of all-wheel drive Iltis, one with a
five-cylinder engine, was entered into the 10,000 mile Paris-Dakar rally.
Despite the gruelling course, said to be the most varied and demanding
in all of motorsport, the four Audi's finished first, second, fourth and ninth.
The quattro principle was not only highly capable, it was remarkably durable.

In 1980, the Audi Quattro coupé was launched at the Geneva motor show.

The quattro era had begun. The rest, as they say, is history.