News has emerged from Germany that a production version of Audi’s jaw-dropping Quattro concept will be ready by early 2015.
The last we heard regarding production plans for the 2010 Paris Motor Show concept was that Audi engineers had fabricated a rolling production prototype, but things have been quiet on the Audi Quattro front since.
Now a report filed by German motoring publication Autobild suggests that the production Audi Quattro, codenamed Q35 (hinting at celebrating the 35th anniversary of the original 1980 Quattro and thereby hinting at a 2015 launch date), will go on sale in Europe from March 2015, but will not necessarily adhere as closely to the concept as originally thought.
It’s now believed that the production Quattro will not adopt the concept’s coupe-like shape, instead becoming more of a coupe/compact SUV that the German publication classifies as a sort of hybridization between Audi’s Q5 and A5 models.
The rationale behind such a theory is that while a yawning gap exists in Audi’s line-up between the TT and R8 ranges, filling it with something similar to the Quattro concept could potentially tread on the Porsche 911’s toes. Executing it as a coupe/SUV hybrid, it could potentially avoid such an issue while still providing a foil to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe and BMW M3.
The design will reportedly incorporate such features as LED-adorned head- and taillamps, 20-inch alloys, a lantern-jawed fender studded with air inlets a-la concept and a flat roof.
The concept was powered by a 2,5-litre, 5-cylinder turbopetrol engine developing 300 kW and 480 N.m of torque. Whether or not cost constraints will allow Audi’s engineers to utilise lightweight composites for the body panels on the production car remains to be seen, but if they can keep the weight close to the concept’s 1 300 kg it could make for a 0-100 km/h time of around 4 seconds.
Autobild’s source also hints at a hybrid powertrain providing the all-wheel drive newcomer with 263 kW could also be introduced at a later date.
Source: Autobild.de
