Five millionth Audi with permanent all-wheel drive rolls off assembly line

AUDI AG celebrates a very special event this week – the five millionth Audi with a quattro drive system. The car is a white Audi A6 allroad 3.0 TDI; it rolled off the assembly line at the Neckarsulm plant. The record is a testament to the leading role played by the pioneering all-wheel drive – no other premium brand in the world can claim such high sales figures for a four-wheel drive or a comparable range of models boasting more than 140 quattro variants.

Plant manager Fred Schulze and Audi employees celebrate the five millionth Audi with a quattro drive system

The quattro technology debuted in 1980 in the legendary, original quattro car. Adding together all of the available body types, engines and drive systems amounts to more than 140 different models. Audi offers the widest range of cars by far with all-wheel drive: the Audi Q7, R8, A4 allroad, A6 allroad as well as all S and RS models are available exclusively with quattro drives; Audi offers it as an option in all other model lines. The quattro is more than a technology – it is an icon.

The name represents driving safety and sportiness, technical competence and a dynamic attitude that doesn’t let even adverse road conditions hold it back. The success of the quattro models on the road and in motorsport have contributed, as did a legendary series of TV commercials – beginning with the ski jump in Kaipola, Finnland, which the Audi 100 CS quattro climbed in 1986 on its own power.